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THE 
TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


A  STUDY  OF  PRESENT  TENDENCIES  IN 

THE  BIOLOGICAL  DEVELOPMENT 

OF  CIVILIZED  MANKIND 


BY    , 

SAMUEL  J."  HOLMES,  Ph.  D. 

PROFESSOR  OF  ZOQlOGY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


a 


NEW  YORK 

HARCOURT,  BRACE  AND  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,  I921,  BY 
HARCOURT,  BRACE  AND  COMPANY,  INC. 

All  rights  reserved.    No  part  of  this  book  may  be  reproduced  in  any  form,  by 
mimeograph  or  any  other  means,  without  permission  in  writing  from  the  publisher. 


PRINTED    IN    THE    U.S.A. 


PREFACE 


The  present  volume  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  course  of  lectures 
on  Eugenics  which  has  been  given  for  several  years  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  California.  Its  aim  is  to  present  an  account  of  the  various 
forces  which  are  at  present  modifying  the  inherited  qualities  of 
civilized  mankind  In  dealing  with  so  extensive  and  complex 
a  subject  I  have  doubtless  committed  a  number  of  errors  and  have 
probably  not  altogether  escaped  from  being  misled  by  statistical 
fallacies  into  which  I  have  so  often  accused  others  of  having 
fallen.  The  more  extensively  I  have  delved  into  the  varied 
literature  on  the  biological  evolution  of  man,  the  more  I  have 
become  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  employing  extreme  cau- 
tion in  drawing  conclusions.  Few  subjects,  in  fact,  present  so 
many  pitfalls  for  the  unwary.  It  is  with  the  conviction  that  it  is 
especially  important  in  this  field  to  be  sure  one  is  right  before 
going  ahead  that  I  have  devoted  so  much  effort  to  critical  analysis 
at  the  risk  of  becoming  tedious  to  the  general  reader. 

I  am  indebted  to  my  colleagues  Professor  F.  B.  Sumner  and 
Professor  F.  J.  Teggart  for  reading  my  original  manuscript  and 
for  making  a  number  of  valuable  suggestions. 

The  preparation  of  the  present  work  has  involved  the  compila- 
tion of  an  extensive  bibliography  which  is  to  be  published  as  an 
additional  volume  so  that  the  references  may  be  rendered  avail- 
able for  other  investigators. 

S.  J  Holmes 

Berkeley,  Calif. 
Jan.  192 1. 


38072 


CONTENTS 

Chapter                                                                                            Page 
I.  An  Introductory  Orientation i 

II.  The  Hereditary  Basis ii 

III.  The  Inheritance  of  Mental  Defects  and  Disease 27 

IV.  The  Heritable  Basis  of  Crime  and  Delinquency 73 

V.  The  Inheritance  of  Mental  Ability 98 

VI.  The  Decline  of  the  Birth  Rate 118 

VII.  The  Causes  of  the  Decline  of  the  Birth  Rate 143 

— JVIII.  Natural  Selection  in  Man 181^^/ 

IX.  The  Selective  Influence  of  War 205  "7 

X.  Sexual  Selection  and  Assortative  Mating {r'2'^) ' 

XI.  Consanguineous  Marriages  and  Miscegenation 238 

XII.  The  Possible  Role  of  Alcohol  and  Disease  in  Causing 

Hereditary  Defects 269 

XIII.  The  Alleged  Influence  of  Order  of  Birth  and  Age  of 

Parents  upon  Offspring 297 

^  XIV.  The  Racial  Influence  of  Industrial  Development 325 

XV.  The  Selective  Function  of  Religion 355 

^XVI.  Retrospect  and  Prospect 364 


V 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

CHAPTER  I 

AN  INTRODUCTORY  ORIENTATION 

"It  is  the  paradox  and  tragedy  of  high  civiHzation  that,  in  the 
present  and  in  all  preceding  ages,  its  tendency  has  been  to  destroy  or 
eliminate  just  those  mental  superiorities  by  which  it  has  been  built  up 
and  which  are  essential  for  its  maintenance  and  further  progress." — 
Wm.  McDougall,  Eugenics  Rev.  5,  297. 

In  any  discussion  of  the  biological  evolution  of  man  it  is  essen- 
tial to  distinguish  clearly  between  changes  in  the  hereditary 
qualities  of  human  beings  and  changes  in  what  human  beings 
owe  to  the  environment  and  institutions  under  which  they  live. 
The  latter  are  matters  of  what  Prof,  Baldwin  has  called  social 
heredity  as  distinguished  from  the  heredity  which  has  its  physical 
basis  in  the  germ  plasm.  Man's  physical  and  social  heredity 
while  easily  distinguished,  at  least  theoretically,  have  very  inti- 
mate relations.  It  is  obvious  that  social  heredity  is  largely 
dependent  upon  the  innate  qualities  of  men.  No  civilization 
could  possibly  be  supported  by  creatures  with  the  inheritance  of 
the  anthropoid  apes,  and  it  might  happen  that  civilization  would 
not  long  endure  among  people  no  higher  than  the  lowest  races  of 
mankind.  The  innate  endowments  of  races  constitute  a  basic 
factor  conditioning  the  nature  of  every  type  of  civilization  and 
every  historic  movement,  although  we  may  not  be  able  to  trace 
the  precise  way  in  which  their  efifects  are  wrought  out  in  the 
complex  relations  of  human  society. 

If  the  social  heredity  of  man  depends  largely  on  his  biological 
heredity,  the  latter  in  turn  may  be  profoundly  influenced  by  the 
kind  of  social  environment  under  which  men  live.  Those  who 
accept  the  Lamarckian  theory  that  acquired  characteristics  may 

1 


2  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

be  transmitted  to  the  next  generation,  naturally  hold  that  man's 
inherited  traits  can  be  modified  through  experiences  with  his 
social  environment.  In  the  writings  of  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  for 
instance,  most  of  the  peculiarly  social  endowTnents  of  human 
beings  are  explained  as  due  to  the  cumulative  inherited  effects  of 
the  experience  of  men  with  their  fellows.  Human  nature  through 
such  a  process  came  to  be  moulded  into  conformity  with  the  needs 
of  social  life,  and  in  the  course  of  time  the  adjustment,  it  was 
supposed,  would  become  more  and  more  nearly  complete. 

If,  however,  as  most  biologists  now  believe,  acquired  characters 
are  not  transmitted  to  offspring,  the  social  enviroimient  never- 
theless is  able  to  influence  human  heredity  in  many  ways.  It  may 
determine  to  a  large  extent  what  kinds  of  variations  survive  and 
propagate,  and  it  may  also  determine,  to  some  degree  at  least,  the 
nature  of  the  heredity  variations  which  arise  in  the  germ  plasm. 
Whatever  forces  have  been  concerned  in  the  evolution  of  plant 
and  animal  life  doubtless  continue  to  operate  in  the  human  species. 
Much  still  remains  to  be  learned,  however,  in  regard  to  the  factors 
of  evolution  in  the  organic  world.  The  subject  is  still  steeped  in 
controversy.  Opinion  among  biologists  remains  undecided  as  to 
the  potency  of  natural  selection,  the  Lamarckian  factor,  ortho- 
genesis, isolation  and  mutation  as  causes  of  evolution.  And  he 
who  would  throw  the  most  light  on  the  problems  of  human 
biological  evolution  would  perhaps  labor  most  effectively  by 
directing  his  attention  to  the  lower  organisms  where  it  is  possible 
to  apply  rigidly  controlled  experimental  methods. 

But  greatly  as  problems  of  human  evolution  would  be  illumi- 
nated by  a  knowledge  of  the  way  in  which  evolution  has  been 
brought  about  in  organisms  below  man,  there  would  remain  a 
multitude  of  specifically  human  evolutionary  problems  which  can 
be  solved  only  by  the  study  of  human  data.  The  development  of 
civilization  has  brought  mankind  under  influences  which  have 
never  before  come  into  play.  In  addition  to  the  natural  forces  to 
which  lower  organisms  are  exposed,  man  has  come  to  live  in  a 
social  milieu  which  constitutes  a  very  large  part  of  what  may  be 
called  his  effective  environment.    From  this  circumstance  have 


AN  INTRODUCTORY  ORIENTATION  3 

arisen  various  selective  agencies  which  tend  to  favor  or  reduce  the 
prevalence  of  certain  types  of  inherited  traits  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  institutions  that  occur  at  any  particular  time  and 
place.  The  first  systematic  discussion  of  those  agencies  forms 
the  subject-matter  of  Lapouge's  Les  Selections  Sociales  (1896),  a 
work  which,  although  not  very  critical,  has  had  a  considerable 
influence  in  stimulating  the  study  of  selection  in  man.  Lapouge 
has  described  the  operation  of  several  forms  of  social  selection, 
i.  e.,  military,  political,  religious,  moral,  legal,  economic  and  sys- 
tematic, all  of  which  are  brought  into  play  as  a  consequence  of 
the  development  of  civilization.  Military  selection,  according  to 
the  author,  eliminates  the  best  of  the  race;  political  selection, 
through  the  effects  of  civil  war,  the  prison,  the  scaffold,  and  exile, 
gets  rid  of  the  more  independent  spirits  and  tends  thereby  to 
render  the  population  submissive  and  tractable;  religious  selec- 
tion, through  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  and  by  persecution,  tends 
to  effect  the  elimination  of  the  more  intelligent  and  independent 
minds;  moral  and  legal  selection  in  general  produce  dysgenic 
effects;  and  economic  selection,  while  operating  in  many  different 
ways,  acts,  on  the  whole,  in  the  most  destructive  manner  upon 
the  superior  elements  of  the  race.  As  civilization  becomes  more 
advanced  the  evil  effects  of  the  various  forms  of  social  selection 
become  more  intense.  The  racial  influence  of  civilization  is  there- 
fore bad.  Progress  may  be  achieved  in  science,  art,  literature  and 
in  the  development  of  institutions,  but  this  carries  with  it  the 
seeds  of  its  own  destruction.  The  relatively  feeble  force  of  natural 
selection  which  still  operates  on  human  beings  is  powerless  to  stay 
the  havoc  which  is  being  wrought  by  the  selective  agencies  which 
result  from  the  development  of  civilization. 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  rather  sombre  prospect  which  Lapouge  has 
held  up  to  our  view.  There  is  only  one  way  by  which  these  de- 
structive forces  may  be  overcome,  and  that  is  by  conscious,  sys- 
tematic selection,  or,  as  we  should  now  call  it,  eugenics;  but 
Lapouge  is  not  sanguine  over  the  prospect  that  human  beings  will 
ever  bring  themselves  to  supply  this  remedy  in  a  really  effective 
manner. 


4  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

Most  readers  will  instinctively  shrink  from  accepting  conclu- 
sions of  so  disquieting  a  nature.  The  world  has  long  been  familiar 
with  the  doctrine  that  civilizations,  after  attaining  the  flower  of 
their  development,  tend  to  decay  and  lapse  into  relative  bar- 
barism. Nations  like  individuals  have  been  supposed  to  have 
their  periods  of  birth,  growth  and  natural  death.  But,  although 
they  have  risen  and  fallen,  the  torch  of  progress  has  been  handed 
on  from  one  to  another.  Other  nations  came  to  the  fore  out  of 
the  great  sea  of  humanity  to  take  advantage  of  the  knowledge  and 
achievements  of  decadent  peoples,  and  thus  humanity  has,  on 
the  whole,  advanced.  It  might  naturally  be  supposed  that  this 
process  could  be  continued  without  assignable  limits,  and  that, 
although  nations  now  in  the  van  of  progress  may  lapse  into 
decay,  like  the  great  empires  of  the  past,  they  will  be  superseded 
by  more  virile  peoples  who  will  carry  achievement  to  still 
greater  heights. 

Were  this  true,  we  might  be  reconciled  to  national  decadence, 
reflecting  that  it  formed  an  incident  in  the  general  progressive 
development  of  humanity.  But  can  this  process  continue?  If 
the  decadence  of  civilization  were  merely  a  social  phenomenon, 
occurring  without  reference  to  the  hereditary  qualities  of  men,  it 
would  be  of  relatively  minor  significance  in  regard  to  our  general 
biological  evolution.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  means  the  extinc- 
tion of  relatively  superior  types  of  human  inheritance  its  evolu- 
tionary significance  is  indeed  serious.  We  cannot  assume  that 
the  course  of  progressive  evolution  will  go  smoothly  on  despite 
the  vicissitudes  of  our  social  and  political  institutions.  Degener- 
ation in  the  organic  world  has  taken  place  with  such  remarkable 
frequency  that  its  occurrence  in  any  group  is  a  contingency  to  be 
looked  upon  as  distinctly  possible,  if  not  probable.  We  have 
degenerate  Protozoa,  degenerate  ccelenterates,  degenerate  worms, 
echinoderms,  molluscs,  crustaceans,  arachnids,  insects  and  verte- 
brates. Whole  groups  such  as  the  cestodes,  nematodes,  and 
Acanthocephali  bear  the  unmistakable  signs  of  descent  from  more 
highly  organized  animals.  Parallel  illustrations  are  furnished  in 
abundance  among  plants.    Everywhere  the  nemesis  of  degeneracy 


AN  INTRODUCTORY  ORIENTATION  5 

hangs  threateningly  over  the  organic  world.  The  attainment  of 
any  degree  of  complexity  or  perfection  of  organization  is  no 
guaranty  against  deterioration.  There  is  not  the  slightest  ground 
for  believing  that  man  himself  is  in  any  degree  shielded  from  its 
insidious  influence.  In  fact,  it  is  not  improbable  that  many 
existing  peoples  have  descended  from  ancestors  who  were  more 
favored  with  natural  gifts,  and  we  should  bear  in  mind  the  possi- 
bility that  our  own  civilization  may  become  one  with  Nineveh 
and  Tyre. 

If  human  progress  involves  the  successive  exhaustion  of  the 
best  blood  of  those  nations  which  gain  the  ascendency  in  the 
development  of  culture,  it  can  scarcely  lead  to  any  other  result 
than  a  general  deterioration  of  the  human  species.  If  there  have 
always  been  races  of  superior  inheritance,  such  as  those  of  Nordic 
stock,  which  have  remained  upon  a  relatively  low  cultural  level, 
and  which  were  capable  of  acquiring  the  civilization  of  the 
decadent  nations  which  they  supplanted,  it  by  no  means  follows 
that  the  human  species  will  always  be  so  favorably  situated.  Mr. 
Seth  Humphrey  has  recently  drawn  attention  to  the  "exhaustion 
of  reserves"  which  are  at  present  available  for  carrying  on  the 
work  of  civilization.  Of  all  our  national  resources  the  most 
important  is  our  supply  of  men  of  superior  stock.  And  we  are 
approaching  a  period  in  which  the  problem  of  the  conservation  of 
this  resource  is  becoming  more  and  more  pressing. 

The  biological  situation  of  our  race  is  at  present  in  many 
respects  unique.  In  the  earlier  stages  of  man's  evolution  develop- 
ment was  mainly  along  divergent  lines.  The  spread  of  mankind 
over  the  continents  and  islands  of  the  globe  brought  about  the 
formation  of  more  or  less  completely  isolated  stocks,  subjected  to 
different  conditions  of  environment.  This  resulted  in  breaking  up 
the  human  species  into  a  great  multitude  of  divergent  groups,  in  a 
manner  which  closely  parallels  the  diversification  of  species  of 
plants  and  animals  subjected  to  the  combined  influence  of  isola- 
tion and  varied  surroundings.  Few  species  of  organisms  present  so 
great  a  variety  of  hereditarily  diverse  strains  as  our  own.  And 
even  if  we  divide  Homo  sapiens  into  several  distinct  species. 


6  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

the   same  statement  would  apply  to  each  of   the  component 
groups. 

But  now  the  trend  of  racial  development  has  changed.  Barriers 
that  formerly  kept  peoples  apart  have  become  broken  down. 
Races  are  meeting  and  amalgamating  at  a  rate  which  becomes 
more  rapid  as  time  goes  on  and  facilities  for  travel  and  intercom- 
munication increase.  The  diversities  which  were  the  product  of 
the  long  period  of  man's  earlier  evolution  are  becoming  rapidly 
submerged.  The  period  of  divergence  is  now  superseded  by  a 
period  of  convergence  which,  if  it  does  not  involve  the  ultimate 
obliteration  of  our  present  distinctions  of  race,  will  certainly 
greatly  diminish  the  number  of  separate  ethnic  stocks.  Perhaps 
the  final  result,  if  we  can  speak  of  any  result  as  final,  will  be  the 
formation  of  a  few  races  w^hich  occupy  those  climatic  zones  to 
which  they  are  peculiarly  adapted  and  which  will  form  a  perma- 
nent barrier  against  successful  invasion  by  their  enemies.  But, 
however  the  process  of  racial  fusion  may  work  out,  it  is  evident 
that  the  growing  amalgamation  of  races  and  peoples  and  the 
extension  of  civilization  over  the  earth  will  leave  no  room  for  the 
replacement  of  decadent  products  of  civilization  by  superior 
stocks  which  have  not  yet  been  overtaken  by  culture.  If  civiliza- 
tion is  really  an  enemy  of  racial  improvement,  it  will  ultimately 
check  the  course  of  man's  biological  evolution  unless  some  effec- 
tive means  can  be  instituted  for  counteracting  its  insidious  effects. 
That  it  has  a  profound  effect  upon  our  biological  development  is  a 
conclusion  that  cannot  be  escaped.  But  to  discover  just  how  it 
acts  involves  an  attack  upon  a  number  of  problems  many  of  which 
are  of  great  difficulty  and  many  incapable  of  solution  with  the 
data  at  present  available.  Civilization  influences  human  heredity 
in  very  diverse  ways,  some  favorable  and  some  the  reverse.  For 
a  long  time  it  may  be  impossible  to  estimate,  with  any  degree  of 
accuracy,  the  potency  of  the  factors  which  are  responsible  for 
evolutionary  changes  in  man.  In  an  attack  upon  a  complex  and 
many-sided  problem  such  as  this,  one  has  to  be  continually  on 
guard  against  making  hasty  generalizations  and  falling  into 
statistical  fallacies.    The  reader  who  peruses  the  following  chapters 


AN  INTRODUCTORY  ORIENTATION  7 

will  become  impressed,  if  he  has  not  been  so  before,  with  the 
numerous  pitfalls  into  which  the  student  of  human  evolution  is 
liable  to  fall.  The  literature  on  the  subject  is  full  of  conclusions 
based  on  inadequate  evidence,  yet  put  forth  with  a  confidence 
which  in  itself  should  engender  a  suspicion  of  their  soundness. 
But  the  most  disappointing  feature  of  the  situation  is  the  dearth 
of  facts  upon  which  safe  deductions  can  be  based.  Demographi- 
cal  statistics  have  been  kept  only  for  a  relatively  short  period  of 
time;  and  anthropometric  data  have  not  been  gathered  on  a  scale 
sufiiciently  extensive,  or  over  a  period  sufficiently  long,  to  give  us 
an  idea  of  the  trend  of  development  in  any  considerable  group  of 
men.  Data  compiled  at  different  times  and  places  are  often  not 
comparable  for  want  of  common  standards.  If  we  wish  to  deter- 
mine, in  what  ways  the  population  of  any  country  has  been 
changed  we  encounter  almost  insuperable  difficulties.  The 
Parliamentary  Committee  appointed  a  few  years  ago  to  investi- 
gate the  alleged  physical  deterioration  of  the  people  of  Great 
Britain,  after  making  an  exhaustive  enquiry,  could  come  to  no 
conclusion  as  to  whether  such  deterioration  had  actually  occurred. 
Of  course  this  result  is  of  little  value  in  proving  the  absence  of 
physical  degeneracy  in  recent  times.  It  is  perfectly  consistent 
with  the  view  that  such  degeneration  has  even  been  rapid.  It  is 
simply  a  confession  that  the  data  are  insufficient  for  the  solution 
of  the  problem. 

But  if  we  are  lacking  in  records  which  tell  us  in  what  direction 
human  beings  have  actually  been  changed,  we  can  at  least  ascer- 
tain something  of  the  action  of  the  forces  which  are  now  at  work 
in  modifying  the  inherited  qualities  of  the  race.  We  can  observe 
in  a  measure  how  things  are  actually  going  on.  We  can  trace  the 
way  in  which  hereditary  traits  are  transmitted;  we  can  study  at 
first  hand  the  action  of  natural  selection  in  eliminating  ill  adapted 
strains  of  humanity;  we  can  determine  the  relative  degrees  of 
rapidity  with  which  different  stocks  reproduce  themselves,  and 
we  can  ascertain  something  of  the  action  of  the  various  selective 
forces  which  have  arisen  as  a  result  of  the  development  of  human 
institutions.    Where  the  data  which  are  being  accumulated  are 


8  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

insufficient  for  the  solution  of  particular  problems  the  defects  may 
often  be  remedied  by  collecting  additional  information.  Many 
questions  of  paramount  importance  are  capable  of  solution  by  the 
use  of  the  biometrical  methods  employed  by  Pearson  and  his 
co-workers  of  the  Galton  laboratory.  What  we  need  above  all  is 
investigation.  And  it  is  important  that  we  realize  that  investiga- 
tion of  the  trend  of  human  development  is  peculiarly  timely.  Our 
custom  of  regarding  evolution  as  an  exceedingly  slow  process  in 
which  a  few  centuries  more  or  less  count  for  relatively  little 
should  not  make  us  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  important  racial 
modifications  may  at  times  take  place  in  a  very  few  generations. 
For  an  illustration  of  this  fact  it  is  only  necessary  to  allude  to  the 
remarkable  results  which  have  been  achieved,  even  within  a  few 
years,  by  the  selective  breeding  of  plants  and  animals.  Many  lines 
of  evidence  point  to  the  conclusion  that  our  human  inheritance  is 
changing  at  a  comparatively  rapid  rate.  In  a  species  containing 
the  great  diversity  of  hereditary  qualities  which  is  exhibited  by 
mankind  there  are  abundant  possibilities  of  rapid  transformation. 
A  person  with  our  present  knowledge  of  human  heredity  and  en- 
dowed with  the  authority  which  the  Great  Master  in  Campanella's 
City  of  the  Sun  exercised  over  the  matings  of  men  and  women, 
could  produce,  in  a  few  generations,  a  remarkable  array  of  diverse 
t^q^es.  He  could,  for  instance,  breed  an  albino  race,  a  deaf  race, 
a  feeble-minded  race,  an  insane  race,  a  race  of  dwarfs,  a  race  with 
hook-like  extremities  instead  of  hands,  a  race  of  superior  intellec- 
tual ability,  or  a  race  of  high  artistic  talent.  It  may  be  said  that 
such  changes  as  may  occur  in  a  few  generations  affect  merely  the 
prevalence  of  characteristics  already  present,  or  the  making  of 
different  combinations  of  existing  hereditary  factors.  But  from 
the  standpoint  of  human  welfare  the  importance  even  of  such 
changes  is  tremendous.  They  may  make  all  the  difference 
between  a  breed  of  wretched  degenerates  and  a  race  of  physical 
vigor  and  superior  mentality.  The  human  species  possessing  so 
great  a  diversity  of  hereditary  traits  and  subjected  to  the  in- 
fluences of  so  many  changing  forces  both  physical  and  social  can 
scarcely  fail  to  undergo  more  or  less  rapid  modification.    If  our 


AN  INTRODUCTORY  ORIENTATION  9 

race  would  avoid  the  danger  of  deterioration  and  realize  the  best 
of  its  hereditary  possibilities  we  should  know  first  of  all  what  is 
the  present  trend  of  our  development  and  what  are  some  of  the 
more  important  forces  by  which  our  development  is  guided. 

It  is  to  a  consideration  of  the  forces  which  are  modifying  the 
inherited  qualities  of  modern  civilized  peoples  that  the  present 
book  is  devoted.  The  undertaking  naturally  leads  us  to  discuss 
the  inheritance  of  those  human  traits  which  are  of  especial  signifi- 
cance in  relation  to  the  progressive  or  retrogressive  development 
of  mankind.  After  the  first  few  chapters  on  this  general  topic  the 
rest  of  the  book  is  mainly  concerned  with  a  treatment  of  the 
selective  agencies  that  determine  what  types  of  human  inheri- 
tance tend  to  prevail  over  others,  and  the  relation  of  these  selec- 
tive agencies  to  various  factors  in  our  social  environment. 

REFERENCES 

The  following  works  of  a  more  or  less  general  character  treat  of  a  number  of  the 
topics  discussed  in  the  present  volimie: 
Ammon,  O.    Die  Gesellschaftsordnung  und  ihre  natiirlichen  Grundlagen.    Jena, 

189s. 

Ellis,  H.  H.  The  Task  of  Social  Hygiene.  Constable  and  Co.,  London,  191 2, 
Houghton,  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston. 

Galton,  F.    Essays  in  Eugenics.    Eugenics  Education  Soc,  London,  1909. 

Grant,  M.    The  Passing  of  the  Great  Race.    Scribner's,  N.  Y.,  1916. 

Guyer,  M.    Being  Well  Born.    Bobbs-Merrill  Co.,  Indianapolis,  1916. 

Headley,  F.  W.    Problems  of  Evolution.    Crowell  and  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1901. 

Hill,  G.  Chatterton.  Heredity  and  Selection  in  Sociology.  A.  and  C.  Black,  Lon- 
don, 1907. 

Humphrey,  S.    Mankind.    Scribner's,  N.  Y.,  191 7. 

Kellicott,  W.  E.  The  Social  Direction  of  Human  Evolution.  Appleton  Co.,  N.  Y., 
and  London,  1915. 

Kelsey,  C.   The  Physical  Basis  of  Society.   Appleton  Co.,  N.  Y.,  and  London,  1916. 

McKim,  W.  D.  Heredity  and  Human  Progress.  Putnam's  Sons,  N.  Y.,  and  Lon- 
don, 1900. 

Pearson,  K.    The  Grammar  of  Science,  2d  ed.    A.  and  C.  Black,  London,  1900. 

Popenoe,  P.,  and  Johnson,  R.  H.    Applied  Eugenics.    Macmillan  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1918. 

Reid,  G.  A.    The  Present  Evolution  of  Man.    Chapman  and  Hall,  London,  1896. 

Rentoul,  R.  R.    Race  Culture  or  Race  Suicide?    W.  Scott,  London,  1906. 

Saleeby,  C.  W.  Parenthood  and  Race  Culture.  Moffat  Yard  and  Co.,  London  and 
N.  Y.,  1911. 

Saleeby,  C.  W.  The  Progress  of  Eugenics.  Funk  and  Wagnalls  Co.,  N.  Y.  and 
London,  1914. 


lo  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

Schallmayer,  W.  Vererbung  und  Auslese  im  Lebenslauf  der  Volker,  2d  ed.  G. 
Fischer,  Jena,  19 10. 

Whetham,  W.  C.  D.,  and  Whetham,  C.  D.  The  Family  and  the  Nation.  Long- 
mans, London,  1909.  Heredity  and  Society,  Longmans,  London,  191 2.  An 
Introduction  to  Eugenics.    Bowes  and  Bowes,  Cambridge,  191 2. 

Woltmann,  L.    Politische  Anthropologie.    Eisenach  and  Leipzig,  1903. 

In  addition  to  the  above  general  references  attention  may  be  called  to  a  few 
periodicals  such  as  The  Eugenics  Review,  Eugenique,  The  Journal  of  Heredity,  the 
Archiv  fUr  Rassen-mtd  Gesellschafls-Biologie,  Biomeirica,  the  politisch-anthrop. 
Revue  (now  the  politisch-anthrop,  Monatschr.),  the  Zeit.  fUr  Sozialwissenschaft,  the 
publications  of  the  Galton  Laboratory  of  National  Eugenics  of  the  University  of 
London,  and  those  of  the  Eugenics  Record  Office  at  Cold  Spring  Harbor,  Long 
Island.  A  large  amount  of  material  on  the  topics  here  discussed  is  contained  in  the 
census  reports  of  different  countries  and  in  various  statistical  periodicals,  especially 
the  Publications  of  the  American  Statistical  Society,  the  Journal  of  the  Royal 
Statistical  Society,  and  Das  allgemeine  statistische  Archiv.  Much  of  value  to  the 
student  of  racial  development  is  contained  in  the  works  on  Vital  Statistics  by  Farr 
(1885),  Newsholme  (1899)  and  Whipple  (1919),  Oettingen's  Moralstatislik,  and 
especially  v.  Mayr's  Slatistik  und  Gesellschatfslehre. 


/ 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  HEREDITARY  BASIS 


"The  experimental  study  of  heredity,  development  and  evolution 
in  forms  of  Hfe  below  man  must  certainly  increase  our  knowledge  of 
and  our  control  over  these  processes  in  the  human  race.  If  human 
heredity,  development  and  evolution  may  be  controlled  to  even  a 
slight  extent  we  may  expect  that  sooner  or  later  the  human  race  will 
be  changed  for  the  better." — E.  G.  Conkhn,  Heredity  and  Environment 
in  the  Development  of  Men. 

Before  entering  upon  a  discussion  of  the  complex  biological 
problem  of  the  evolution  of  man,  it  may  be  useful  to  touch  briefly 
upon  some  of  the  main  principles  which  are  observed  to  hold 
true  for  the  transmission  of  hereditary  traits.  The  establishment 
of  the  doctrine  of  evolution  naturally  lent  a  great  impetus  to 
the  study  of  heredity  and  the  complementary  topic  of  variation. 
The  search  for  the  causes  of  evolution  would  be  greatly  aided  by 
a  knowledge  of  the  principles  or  laws  according  to  which  variations 
in  organisms  arise  and  are  transmitted  to  subsequent  generations. 
No  one  appreciated  this  fact  more  than  Mr.  Darwin  as  is  evinced 
not  only  by  several  chapters  in  the  Origin  of  Species,  but  espe- 
cially by  his  great  work  on  the  Variatiofi  of  Animals  and  Plants 
under  Domestication.  It  was  his  conviction  that  the  key  to  the 
method  of  evolution  lay  in  the  close  and  careful  study  of  variation 
that  led  to  the  vast  amount  of  observation  and  experiment  w^hich 
Darwin  devoted  to  this  subject.  The  ingenious  theory  of  pan- 
genesis by  which  Darwin  attempted  to  give  a  provisional  explana- 
tion not  only  of  inheritance,  but  of  many  phenomena  of  variation 
as  well,  shows  how  thoroughly  he  appreciated  the  fundamental 
importance  of  true  insight  into  these  processes. 

Darwin  considered  his  doctrine  of  pangenesis  as  a  provisional 
hypothesis,  a  tentative  theoretic  formulation  of  a  principle  which 
would  introduce  some  order  into  what  was  then  a  chaos  of  empiri- 

II 


12  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

cally  collected  facts.  He  postulated  that  the  different  organs  of 
the  body  gave  off  into  the  blood,  or  other  bodily  fluids,  minute 
living  particles  which  he  called  genimules,  and  which  he  supposed 
to  be  capable  of  growth  and  multiplication.  The  germ  cells  were 
supposed  to  have  a  special  aflinity  for  these  gemmules,  their 
function  being  to  act  as  storehouses  for  these  bodies.  During 
development  the  gemmules  were  sorted  out,  each  kind  determin- 
ing the  development  of  a  part  of  the  embryo  into  the  kind  of 
organ  from  which  it  was  derived. 

This  theor}'  gave  scientific  expression  to  the  traditional  concep- 
tion of  inheritance  according  to  which  the  parts  of  the  offspring 
are  derived  from  corresponding  parts  of  the  bodies  of  their  par- 
ents. It  afforded  also  a  means  of  explaining  how  characters 
acquired  by  the  parents  might  be  transferred  to  following  genera- 
tions. Darwin,  like  most  of  his  contemporaries,  accepted  the 
doctrine  of  the  transmission  of  acquired  characters  which  La- 
marck had  postulated  as  the  chief  cause  of  organic  evolution.  He 
supposed  that  parts  which  are  developed  through  exercise  would 
produce  more  gemmules  and  that  this  would  cause  the  corre- 
sponding part  to  be  better  developed  in  following  generations. 
The  hereditary  effects  of  disuse  were  explained  in  a  similar  man- 
ner. Granting  Darwin's  doctrine  of  pangenesis,  the  explana- 
tion of  the  transmission  of  acquired  characters  followed  very 
naturally.  But  the  fundamental  difficulty  of  the  doctrine  lay 
in  the  artificial  and  improbable  nature  of  its  fundamental 
assumptions.  Although  ingeniously  worked  out  and  applied, 
the  theory  gained  few  followers,  and  as  knowledge  of  the 
cellular  basis  of  heredity  came  to  be  more  minute  and 
thorough,  its  incongruity  with  known  facts  became  more  and 
more  apparent. 

Although  the  doctrine  of  pangenesis  has  now  been  given  up, 
its  influence  upon  subsequent  theories  of  heredity  is  unmistakable. 
De  Vries  modified  it  by  eliminating  the  hypothesis  of  the  cen- 
tripetal flow  of  pangens,  thus  greatly  simplifying  it  and  avoiding 
some  of  its  most  improbable  elements.  The  pangens  were  not 
supposed  to  be  given  off  by  the  cells  of  the  body  and  stored  up  in 


THE  HEREDITARY  BASIS  13 

the  germ  cells,  but  the  germ  cells  were  held  to  receive  their  store 
of  pangens  from  antecedent  germ  cells.  The  denial  of  the  flow  of 
pangens  from  the  body  to  the  germ  cells  did  away  with  the  means 
by  which  Darwin  accounted  for  the  transmission  of  acquired  or 
somatogenic  characters,  De  Vries  did  not  hesitate  to  accept  the 
logical  consequence  of  his  hypothesis  although  he  dwelt  compara- 
tively little  on  this  feature  of  his  doctrine. 

It  is  in  the  writings  of  Professor  August  Weismann  that  we 
find  the  opposition  to  Lamarckism  taking  the  form  of  vigorous 
and  sustained  attacks.  Weismann  in  his  early  essay  On  Heredity 
set  forth  a  very  simple  and  plausible  theory  of  transmission  in  his 
doctrine  of  the  continuity  of  the  germ  plasm.  This  conception 
had  been  put  forth  previously  by  several  writers  (Owen,  Galton, 
His,  Nussbaum,  Jager,  Rauber),  but  it  did  not  attract  much 
attention  until  expounded  in  the  lucid  and  attractive  essays  of 
Weismann  who  made  it  the  basis  of  a  series  of  brilliant  and  elabo- 
rate speculations  on  the  mechanism  of  hereditary  transmission. 
Weismann  taught  that  the  germ  plasm  is  a  substance  separate 
from  the  soma  plasm  which  forms  the  organs  of  the  body,  and 
that  it  is  in  no  way  the  product  of  the  body,  although  it  is  carried 
and  nourished  by  the  body.  Germ  plasm  is  handed  on  relatively 
unchanged  from  one  generation  to  the  next,  part  of  it  being  trans- 
formed into  soma  plasm  which  differentiates  in  various  ways 
during  embryonic  development,  but  another  part  of  it  remaining 
undifferentiated  in  the  germ  cells  to  form  the  starting  point  of  the 
next  generation.  Some  germ  plasm  is,  therefore,  handed  on  in  a 
continuous  stream  through  successive  generations,  the  bodies 
of  the  parents  acting  as  "trustees  of  the  germ  plasm."  It  is  the 
continuity  of  the  germ  plasm  that  affords  the  basis  for  heredity. 
Parent  and  offspring  resemble  each  other  not  because  the  off- 
spring are,  in  any  sense,  the  product  of  the  parent's  body,  but 
because  both  parent  and  offspring  arise  from  a  common  substance, 
the  germ  plasm.  Poulton  has  aptly  said  that  Weismann's  theory 
makes  the  offspring  the  younger  brothers  and  sisters  of  their 
parents.  We  might  compare  successive  generations  to  a  series 
of  plants  arising  from  an  underground  runner  or  root  stalk. 


14  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

The  plants  resemble  one  another  not  because  one  is  derived 
from  the  other,  but  because  all  are  derived  from  a  common 
source. 

Such  a  view  of  heredity,  sharply  opposed  as  it  was  to  the  older 
views  that  derived  the  offspring  in  some  way  from  the  various 
parts  of  the  body  of  its  parents,  made  the  transmission  of  acquired 
characters  improbable  a  priori.  Weismann  accordingly  sub- 
jected the  evidence  for  such  transmission  to  a  searching  criticism 
and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  entirely  inadequate.  His 
attacks  upon  the  Lamarckian  theory  which  appeared  in  a  series  of 
essays,  books  and  lectures  nearly  up  to  the  period  of  his  death  did 
much  to  shake  the  faith  of  biologists  in  this  at  one  time  widely 
accepted  doctrine. 

Weismann  was  not  content  simply  to  explain  heredity  as  due 
to  the  continuity  of  the  germ  plasm,  and  to  remove  obstacles  that 
seemed  to  lie  in  the  path  of  that  theory.  He  attempted  to  elabo- 
rate a  theory  of  the  composition  of  the  germ  plasm  which  would 
explain  development,  regeneration  and  various  other  phenomena 
in  addition  to  heredity.  Investigations  into  the  structure  of  the 
cell  and  especially  the  peculiar  behavior  of  the  sex  cells  in  matura- 
tion and  fertilization  had  revealed  a  wonderful  and  orderly  series 
of  phenomena  of  which  even  the  contemporaries  of  Darwin  had 
little  dreamed.  Weismann  was  among  the  first  to  interpret  the 
significance  of  these  striking  phenomena  for  the  theory  of  heredity 
and  evolution,  and  the  essential  part  of  his  early  theory  of  the 
significance  of  maturation  has  received  a  remarkable  verification 
by  recent  work.  More  than  any  one  else  Weismann  is  responsible 
for  directing  attention  to  the  importance  of  the  combination  of 
the  study  of  heredity  with  cytology  which  has  lately  been  produc- 
tive of  such  brilliant  results.  Many  of  the  features  of  his  elabo- 
rate speculative  system  have  been  rendered  improbable  (though 
we  may  not  say  defijiitely  disproved)  by  experimental  work;  others 
have  proven  to  be  remarkably  prophetic;  on  the  whole,  the  body 
of  doctrine  which  may  be  designated  as  Weismannism,  as  it  was 
by  Romanes,  has  afforded  a  great  stimulus  to  the  study  and 
interpretation  of  the  facts  of  heredity,  and   has  left  its  very 


THE  HEREDITARY  BASIS  15 

evident  impress  on  much  of  recent  thinking  on  the  doctrine  of 
evolution. 

The  discovery  which  has  meant  most  for  the  progress  of  ge- 
netics is  unquestionably  Mendel's  law.  The  product  of  years  of 
research  in  the  garden  of  the  monastery  at  Briinn,  Austria,  the 
principles  enunciated  by  Mendel,  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  were 
published  in  a  little-known  journal,  The  Proceedings  of  the 
Natural  History  Society  at  Briinn,  failed  to  attract  the  attention 
of  the  scientific  world  until  they  were  made  known  independently 
by  three  investigators,  Tschermak,  Correns  and  De  Vries  in  the 
year  1900.  Thus  began,  with  the  beginning  of  the  20th  century, 
a  new  era  in  the  study  of  genetics.  Progress  in  this  field  since  1900 
has  taken  place  at  a  very  rapid  rate.  The  amount  of  literature 
devoted  to  the  subject  suddenly  swelled  to  several  times  its 
previous  volume,  and  it  is  probably  no  exaggeration  to  say  that 
since  the  rediscovery  of  Mendel's  law  a  greater  advance  has  been 
made  toward  a  scientific  analysis  of  the  phenomena  of  heredity 
than  had  been  made  during  all  preceding  time. 

Mendel's  law  embraces  two  principles  designated  commonly 
as  (i)  the  law  of  dominance,  and  (2)  the  law  of  segregation.  Ac- 
cording to  the  first,  when  two  related  but  contrasted  characters 
are  brought  together  in  a  cross  the  one  appears  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  other.  Mendel  found,  for  instance,  that  when  he  crossed  tall 
and  dwarf  peas  the  immediate  progeny  were  all  tall  instead  of 
intermediate  in  height.  When  he  crossed  green  and  yellow  peas 
the  first  generation  (called  the  first  filial  or  Fi  generation)  con- 
sisted entirely  of  yellow  peas.  The  characters  tall  and  yellow 
are  designated  dominant  in  contrast  to  dwarf  and  green  which 
are  called  recessive. 

The  recessive  characters  are  not  lost,  as  is  shown  when  the 
members  of  the  Fi  generation  are  either  interbred  or  self -polli- 
nated. They  appear  in  the  second  or  F2  generation  along  with  a 
certain  proportion  of  dominants.  Numerous  experiments  have 
shown  that  in  typical  cases  the  dominant  and  recessive  characters 
are  segregated  in  the  second  generation  in  the  proportion  of  three 
dominant  to  one  recessive.    The  separation  of  the  original  char- 


i6  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

acters  according  to  definite  numerical  ratios  in  the  second  genera- 
tion is  the  principle  of  segregation  which  is  the  most  general  and 
significant  feature  of  Mendel's  great  doctrine. 

The  recessives  which  come  out  in  the  F2  generation  are  pure 
and  hence  breed  true,  but  the  members  of  the  F2  generation  which 
show  the  dominant  character  are  not  all  alike,  as  is  shown  by 
subsequent  breeding.  One-third  of  them  continue  to  produce 
nothing  but  dominants  during  the  subsequent  generations;  but 
two-thirds  of  them  continue  to  produce  recessives  in  the  ratio  of 
one  of  the  latter  to  three  that  show  the  dominant  character.  We 
might  write  the  general  formula  for  the  F2  generation,  instead  of 
3D  +  1R,  as  1DD  +  2DR+1RR,  or  one  pure  dominant,  two 
heterozygous  or  impure  forms  and  one  pure  recessive. 

Complete  dominance  is  by  no  means  a  general  phenomenon. 
Contrasted  characters  frequently  blend  in  the  first  filial  genera- 
tion and  many  gradations  occur  between  complete  dominance 
and  a  strictly  intermediate  condition.  But  this  in  no  wise  alters 
the  fact  of  segregation  although  it  may  render  segregation  more 
difficult  to  establish. 

A  typical  instance  is  afforded  by  crossing  red  and  white  four 
o'clocks.  The  Fi  generation  consists  of  flowers  of  an  intermediate 
or  pink  color.  The  second  generation,  however,  consists  of  one- 
fourth  pure  red,  one-half  pink  and  one-fourth  white.  The  red  and 
white  produce  nothing  but  red  and  white  respectively;  they  are 
hence  pure  or  homozygous  for  these  characters.  The  pink  four 
o'clocks  produce  red,  pink,  and  white  in  the  1:2:1  ratio. 

In  Mendelian  inheritance  pairs  of  characters  such  as  green  and 
yellow,  tall  and  dwarf,  etc.,  commonly  appear  to  segregate  inde- 
pendently, giving  us  all  possible  combinations  of  different  pairs. 
Crossing  a  tall  yellow  with  a  dwarf  green  pea  gives  us  in  the  Fi 
only  tall  yellow  peas,  but  in  the  F2  we  obtain  9tyH-3tg+3dw 
+  igw.  This  is  the  expected  ratio  if  the  members  of  the  two 
pairs  of  characters  were  distributed  and  combined  in  independ- 
ence of  each  other.  As  Mendel  himself  pointed  out,  characters 
are  distributed  in  inheritance  as  they  would  be  if  the  germ  cells 
were  pure  as  regards  one  or  the  other  member  of  a  pair  of  con- 


THE  HEREDITARY  BASIS  17 

trasted  characters.  What  is  now  known  of  the  germ  cells  enables 
us  to  point  with  great  probability  to  the  cellular  mechanism  by 
which  this  purity  of  the  gametes  or  mature  germ  cells  is  main- 
tained. The  same  mechanism  also  affords  an  explanation  of  the 
phenomenon  of  linkage  or  the  tendency  of  diverse  characters  to 
maintain  a  certain  association  in  inheritance.  The  mechanism 
consists  of  the  chromosomes  of  the  nucleus  which  there  are  strong 
reasons  for  believing  maintain  their  individuality,  as  they  do  their 
number,  not  only  through  numerous  cell  generations  in  the  life  of 
the  individual,  but  through  an  indefinite  number  of  life  cycles  of 
individual  organisms.  The  behavior  of  these  chromosomes  in 
maturation  and  the  process  of  synapsis  immediately  preceding 
maturation  is  precisely  such  as  would  explain  the  distribution  of 
characters  according  to  Mendel's  law  if  we  grant  that  individual 
chromosomes  contain  factors  for  the  production  of  particular 
characters.  We  cannot  give  an  idea  of  the  remarkable  success 
that  has  been  attained  in  connecting  the  phenomena  of  inheri- 
tance with  peculiarities  of  chromosome  behavior,  and  must  refer 
the  reader  to  special  works  and  papers  dealing  with  this  topic.  I 
can  scarcely  do  more  than  indicate  in  a  short  chapter  the  various 
applications  of  Mendel's  law  in  interpreting  many  enigmatical 
phenomena  of  inheritance.  The  phenomena  of  reversion,  the 
results  of  inbreeding,  the  heredity  of  sex  and  the  peculiar  phe- 
nomena of  sex-linked  inheritance  are  seen  in  a  new  light  since 
the  discovery  of  Mendel's  law. 

Since  Mendel's  law  has  been  found  so  widely  applicable  in 
plants  and  animals,  we  should  expect  to  find  it  expressed  also  in 
the  inheritance  of  man.  Already  numerous  human  traits  are 
known  which  give  strong  evidence  of  being  transmitted  in  accord- 
ance with  this  law.  Since  it  is  not  feasible  to  treat  human  beings 
as  we  do  plants  and  animals  it  is  difiicult  to  ascertain  in  many 
cases  whether  inheritance  is  in  fact  strictly  Mendelian.  A  list, 
though  incomplete,  of  traits  which  are  probably  transmitted 
according  to  Mendel's  law  is  given  in  the  following  table: 


i8 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


Table  of  Human  Hereditary  traits 


Dominant  Characters 

Dark  hair 

Lack  of  hair  (hypotrichosis),  Beaded  hair 

Dark  skin 

Pigmented  skin 

Partial  albinism,  keratosis,  ichthyosis,  tylosis, ' 

epidermolysis 
Dark  eyes 
Cataract,    pigmentary    retinitis,    coloboma?      | 

glaucoma,  displaced  lens,  nystagmus  J 

Tall  stature  (in  part) 
Achondroplastic  dwarfism 
Polydactylism,  brachydactylism,  sjoidactylism,  | 

Fragility  of  bone.  Symphalangy,  exostoses      J 
Normal 

Hapsburg  lip.  Hare  lip  (imperfect  dominant?) 
Diabetes 
Superior  mentality 

Normal  mentality  or  nervous  condition 


Recessive   or   Partly   Recessive 

Characters 
Light  hair 
Normal 
Light  skin 
Albinism 

Normal  skin 

Light  eyes 

Normal  eyes 

Short  statute  (in  part) 
Normal 

Normal 

Deaf  mutism,  otosclerosis 

Normal 

Normal 

Inferior  mentality 
[  Feeble-mindedness,     epilepsy, 
\      insanity,  Meniere's  disease, 
[      chorea,  multiple  sclerosis 

Normal 


Huntington's  chorea,  muscular  atrophy 

Sex  Linked  (mostly  recessive)  Characters 
Color  blindness,  night  blindness,  hjemophiha,  neuritis  optica,  Cower's  muscular 
atrophy 


Certain  characters,  such  as  skin  color  in  negro-white  crosses, 
appear  to  form  permanent  blends,  but  as  Davenport  has  attempted 
to  show,  this  may  be  a  complex  case  of  Mendelian  transmission 
in  which  a  considerable  number  of  determiners  for  skin  color  are 
involved.  The  great  variability  in  the  skin  color  of  mulattoes 
has  been  appealed  to  in  support  of  this  view.  Cases  of  complex 
Mendelian  transmission  are  especially  difficult  to  analyze  in  man 
and  we  may  have  to  judge  them  in  the  light  of  analogy  with  what 
occurs  in  the  lower  animals.  With  the  progress  of  genetics  more 
and  more  success  is  being  attained  in  the  resolution  of  complex 
and  apparently  irreconcilable  cases  in  terms  of  Mendelian  prin- 
ciples. As  we  learn  more  of  inheritance  in  man,  the  more  we  find 
that  it  falls  into  line  with  what  is  known  of  inheritance  in  the 


THE  HEREDITARY  BASIS  19 

lower  forms  of  life.  It  is  fortunate  for  the  solution  of  many  of  our 
problems  that  we  are  so  closely  afl51iated  with  the  brute  creation. 
This  is  especially  the  case  in  regard  to  the  problems  involving  a 
knowledge  of  human  heredity,  for  we  may  learn  more  of  this  subject 
by  studying  heredity  in  other  forms  than  by  studying  the  heredity 
of  man  himself.  Unfortunately,  however,  for  many  problems  of 
the  highest  importance  we  cannot  directly  avail  ourselves  of  our 
knowledge  of  the  heredity  of  lower  forms.  Many  of  the  qualities 
that  make  human  beings  socially  desirable  or  the  reverse  do  not 
have  their  strict  counterparts  in  the  animal  world,  and  often  they 
represent  complex  states  influenced  greatly  in  their  expression  by 
environmental  agencies  and  hence  presenting  almost  insuperable 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  resolution  into  their  component  heredi- 
tary factors.  In  the  following  three  chapters  we  shall  deal  with 
the  transmission  of  some  of  the  traits  which  are  of  greatest  impor- 
tance in  regard  to  the  progress  of  the  race. 

We  cannot  close  this  preliminary  chapter  on  inheritance  with- 
out some  discussion  of  the  relative  importance  of  heredity  and 
environment  in  the  development  of  man,  especially  since  the 
question  is  one  upon  which  there  exists  an  extraordinary  amount 
of  confusion  of  thought.  The  question,  Which  is  the  more 
important,  heredity  or  environment?  has  provoked  endless  dis- 
cussion. To  argue  over  the  question  in  its  general  and  unqualified 
form  is  futile,  since  both  heredity  and  environment  are  absolutely 
essential  to  every  organism.  The  difi&culty  is  much  like  asking 
which  is  the  more  important  for  the  maintenance  of  life,  matter 
or  energy?  Heredity  under  the  same  environment  makes  the 
difference  between  a  cow,  bird,  insect  or  plant.  Environment 
may  make  all  the  difference  between  a  normal  organism  and  a 
monstrosity  or  between  a  living  organism  and  no  organism  at  all. 
Every  organism  is  a  function  of  both  hereditary  and  environmen- 
tal factors.  We  may  express  this  in  the  formula  0=/(HE).  Alter 
either  H  (heredity)  or  E  (environment)  and  the  0  is  changed. 
Without  either  H  or  E  the  organism  would  not  exist.  We  cannot 
say  that  in  general  one  is  more  important  than  the  other  because 
each  is  all  important. 


20  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

But  while  it  is  futile  to  argue  over  this  question  in  the  abstract, 
it  may  become  a  very  practical  problem  if  it  is  narrowed  down  to 
particular  characteristics  of  a  given  breed  under  a  specified  range 
of  conditions.  We  may  illustrate  this  by  considering  the  efifects 
of  heredity  and  environment  in  raising  corn.  Everyone  knows 
that  corn  grown  on  rich  fertile  soil  produces  a  much  greater  yield 
than  corn  grown  on  poor  soil.  Everyone  knows  also  that,  in  a 
given  soil,  the  yield  depends  largely  on  the  variety  of  com  that 
is  used  for  seed.  There  are  varieties  which  in  fair  soil  will  yield 
over  loo  bushels  per  acre;  others  under  the  same  condition  which 
produce  only  miserable  nubbins  yielding  less  than  five  bushels 
per  acre;  and  some,  to  take  an  extreme  case,  which  would  produce 
no  seed  at  all.  We  get  a  variation  due  to  heredity  between  say 
150  bushels  per  acre  and  o.  If  we  take  extreme  environmental 
conditions  we  get  a  variation  in  a  given  strain  between  the 
maximum  yield  (say  200  bushels  per  acre)  and  o,  for  it  is  obvious 
that  if  we  planted  our  corn  in  an  environment  sufficiently  unfa- 
vorable it  would  not  grow  at  all.  There  is  no  use  arguing  which  is 
the  more  important  in  raising  corn,  good  seed  or  good  soil  and 
climate.  If,  however,  we  ask  whether  it  is  more  important  to 
make  the  best  choice  of  seed  between  variety  A  and  variety  B 
or  to  make  the  best  choice  of  one  or  the  other  of  two  pieces  of 
ground,  our  question  is  a  sensible  one  and  capable  of  fairly  easy 
solution.  We  may  test  our  varieties  under  given  conditions  and 
compare  our  yield.  We  could  then  obtain  a  measure  of  their 
hereditary  difference  under  a  given  constant  environment,  and 
express  it  in  a  ratio  such  as  A:B:  13  4.  Similarly  we  might  test 
out  the  yield  of  each  variety  in  our  two  fields  and  we  might  find 
that  one  field  C  is  so  much  better  than  the  other  that  both  vari- 
eties produce  twice  as  much  in  the  first  as  they  did  in  the  second. 
If  they  continue  to  do  so  over  a  period  of  years  varying  with 
temperature,  rainfall,  etc.,  we  might  say  that  for  these  particular 
varieties  of  corn  the  relative  influence  of  fields  C  and  D  is  as  2:1. 
Therefore  we  might  conclude  that  the  choice  of  a  proper  field  is 
more  important  than  the  choice  of  the  best  seed.  If,  however,  it 
was  a  question  of  the  seed  of  variety  B  and  the  seed  of  variety  C 


THE  HEREDITARY  BASIS  21 

the  case  might  be  different.  The  latter  variety  might  not  yield 
more  than  a  fourth  of  the  former  in  either  of  the  fields.  In  this 
instance  the  choice  of  the  best  seed  would  be  more  important  than 
the  choice  of  the  best  field. 

When  we  compare  the  influence  of  heredity  and  environment 
it  is  necessary  to  state  what  particular  hereditary  conditions  we 
are  comparing  with  what  given  range  of  environmental  conditions. 
We  then  have  a  soluble  problem,  at  least  theoretically.  We  might 
make  a  rough  estimate  of  the  relative  importance  of  the  heredi- 
tary conditions  that  are  commonly  found  within  the  limits  of  the 
species  or  variety  with  the  conditions  that  are  produced  by  the 
variations  of  environment  to  which  the  species  is  commonly  ex- 
posed. Leaving  out  of  account  the  variations  in  heredity  that 
might  occur  and  taking  the  average  of  such  variations  as  are 
actually  met  with,  and  leaving  out  of  account  what  environmental 
conditions  might  accomplish  and  considering  in  general  only  what 
is  actually  done,  we  may  obtain  results  that  can  be  compared. 
We  might  find  our  species  to  be  remarkably  uniform  in  its  heredi- 
tary constitution,  and  that  the  bulk  of  the  diversity  within  it 
could  be  attributed  to  the  effect  of  external  conditions.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  species  might  possess  much  hereditary 
variability  like  the  mixed  breeds  of  many  of  our  domestic  plants 
and  animals  in  which  the  differences  of  innate  constitution 
are  much  more  conspicuous  than  those  produced  by  the 
environment. 

Homo  sapiens,  the  species  in  which  we  are  particularly  inter- 
ested in  the  present  connection,  contains  a  high  degree  of  heredi- 
tary diversity.  Not  only  does  each  of  the  major  divisions  of  the 
species  (if  we  may  be  permitted  to  group  all  mankind  into  one 
species)  contain  numerous  minor  groups  which  are  commonly 
further  subdivided,  but  most  peoples,  especially  among  civilized 
nations,  represent  racial  mixtures  of  many  different  stocks.  A 
little  observation  of  the  multitudes  we  encounter  in  going  along  a 
street  cannot  fail  to  impress  one  with  the  heterogeneity  of  his 
fellow  creatures,  and  it  does  not  require  extensive  dealings  with 
our  kind  to  convince  one  that  they  are  as  diverse  in  mental 


22  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

aptitudes,  disposition  and  character  as  they  are  in  their  form  and 
features. 

The  extent  to  which  our  human  differences  are  hereditary 
is  a  matter  about  which  there  is  much  difference  of  opinion.  Con- 
cerning the  peculiarities  of  features  and  complexion  which  are 
characteristic  of  racial  subdivisions  and  which  may  be  seen  very 
frequently  to  run  in  members  of  a  family  there  is  little  oppor- 
tunity for  disagreement.  Stature,  strength,  endurance,  eyesight 
and  temperament,  since  they  are  obviously  influenced  by  the 
environment  are  frequently  considered  as  affected  more  by  the 
environment  than  through  variations  in  hereditary  constitution. 
We  cannot  test  the  matter  experimentally  as  we  might  in  dealing 
with  characters  of  corn  or  wheat,  but  it  is  possible  to  investigate 
the  subject  by  statistical  methods.  Professor  Karl  Pearson  and 
several  of  his  associates  of  the  Galton  Laboratory  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  London  have  tested  the  relative  influence  of  heredity  and 
environment  in  a  number  of  human  traits  such  as  eyesight,  height, 
weight  and  intelligence.  Their  method  is  to  ascertain  the  degree 
of  similarity  existing  between  certain  characteristics  occurring  in 
parent  and  offspring  and  among  the  siblings  of  the  same  family. 
These  similarities  may  be  expressed  numerically  by  a  coefficient 
of  correlation.  Coefficients  of  correlation  were  worked  out  also 
for  various  environmental  differences.  These  correlations  if  based 
on  a  sufficient  number  of  cases  will  afford  a  measure  of  the  in- 
fluence exerted  by  the  environment.  Then  the  correlations 
between  relatives  may  be  compared  with  those  correlations  which 
are  the  result  of  environmental  influence.  In  the  study  of  the 
relative  influence  of  heredity  and  environment  on  defects  of  vision 
Barrington  and  Pearson  ascertained  that  the  coefficient  of  corre- 
lation between  parent  and  offspring  and  between  siblings  for 
keenness  of  vision  was  from  .4  to  .6  which  is  much  the  same  value 
as  that  which  is  found  for  other  hereditary  traits.  They  measured 
the  correlations  of  keenness  of  vision  and  refraction  with  environ- 
mental conditions  in  a  large  number  of  school  children  living 
under  a  variety  of  circumstances,  and  found  that  these  correla- 
tions were  very  small.    In  other  words,  the  eyesight  of  children 


THE  HEREDITARY  BASIS  23 

showed  very  little  effect  of  the  different  environments  to  which 
the  children  were  exposed.  Presumably,  therefore,  differences  in 
vision  met  with  among  children  are  the  results  of  differences  of 
inheritance  much  more  than  differences  of  environment.  Whether 
differences  among  human  beings  are  due  in  greater  measure  to 
heredity  depends  very  largely  on  the  characters  studied.  Differ- 
ences in  eye  color  are  due  almost  entirely  to  heredity,  as  the 
character  shows  scarcely  any  effect  of  ordinary  environmental 
changes.  In  stature  and  weight  environmental  influence  is  more 
obvious  although  heredity  is  an  important  factor.  In  manners 
and  customs  enviroimiental  influence  is  more  obvious  still,  and 
whether  a  person  talks  English  or  Chinese  may  depend  entirely 
upon  the  locality  in  which  he  is  raised.  If  he  had  the  heredity  of 
a  horse  or  a  cow  he  would  be  unable  to  talk  either,  but  if  his 
heredity  were  such  that  he  could  talk  any  human  language,  en- 
vironment would  determine  what  language  he  would  speak  or 
whether  or  not  he  would  speak  any. 

A  good  illustration  of  the  relative  influence  of  heredity  and 
environment  is  afforded  by  the  resemblance  of  so-called  identical 
twins  compared  with  that  of  twins  of  the  usual  kind.  The  recog- 
nition of  these  two  classes  of  twins  is  due  to  Francis  Galton,  who 
gave  several  illustrations  of  striking  similarities  between  twins 
which  he  termed  identical.  Ordinary  twins  are  about  as  different 
as  other  members  of  the  same  family.  They  frequently  exhibit 
marked  dif  crences  in  physical  traits,  in  intelligence  and  disposi- 
tion, and  the  almost  identical  surroundings  in  which  the-'^  are 
frequently  brought  up,  fail  to  overcome  their  inherited  differences 
which  are  often  conspicuous  even  in  early  life.  One  of  Galton's 
correspondents  describes  his  twin  offspring  by  saying  "They  have 
had  exactly  the  same  nurture  from  their  birth  up  to  the  present 
time;  they  are  both  perfectly  healthy  and  strong,  yet  they  are 
otherwise  as  dissimilar  as  two  boys  could  be,  physically,  mentally 
and  in  their  emotional  nature."  Another  correspondent  says  of  a 
pair  of  twins,  "They  were  never  alike  either  in  body  or  mind,  and 
their  dissimilarity  increases  daily.  The  external  influences  have 
been  identical;  they  have  never  been  separated." 


24  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

While  ordinary  twins  show  varying  degrees  of  resemblence, 
identical  twins  belong  apparently  in  a  class  by  themselves.  It  is 
a  commonly  accepted  view,  having  much  evidence  in  its  favor 
that  true  identical  twins  which  are  always  of  the  same  sex,  are 
developed  within  the  same  chorion  and  arise  from  the  same  ferti- 
lized egg.  They  may  therefore  be  regarded  as  having  the  same 
heredity.  Among  armadillos,  Dasypus  novem-cinclus ,  it  is  known 
that  commonly  four  young  are  derived  from  a  single  ovum,  which 
develops  beyond  the  gastrula  stage  before  giving  rise  to  four 
embryos,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  a  similar  procedure  is 
occasionally  followed  in  the  development  of  twins  in  man.  Double 
monsters  in  man  are  of  the  same  sex  and  are  known  in  many  cases 
to  have  been  enclosed  in  the  same  chorion,  but  it  is  unfortunate 
that  direct  observational  evidence  that  identical  twins  are  in  fact 
monochorial  is  lacking  although  many  facts  support  this  conclu- 
sion. The  cases  of  remarkably  close  resemblance  between  twins 
are  so  numerous  that  it  is  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  they  are 
the  results  of  merely  chance  associations  of  similar  ancestral 
characteristics.  Galton  remarks  that,  "Among  my  thirty-five 
detailed  cases  of  close  similarity,  there  are  no  less  than  se""'en  in 
which  both  twins  suffered  from  some  special  ailment  or  had  sonie 
exceptional  peculiarity.  One  twin  writes  that  she  and  her  sister 
'have  both  the  defect  of  not  being  able  to  come  down  stairs 
quickly,  which,  however,  was  not  born  with  them,  but  came  on 
at  the  age  of  twenty.'  Three  pairs  of  twins  have  peculiarities  in 
their  fingers;  in  one  case  it  consists  in  a  slight  congenital  flexure 
of  one  of  the  joints  of  the  little  finger;  it  was  inherited  from  a 
grandmother,  but  neither  parents,  nor  brothers,  nor  sisters  show 
the  least  trace  of  it.  In  another  case  the  twins  have  a  peculiar 
way  of  bending  the  fingers,  and  there  was  a  faint  tendency  to  the 
same  peculiarity  in  the  mother,  but  in  her  alone  of  all  the  family. 
In  a  third  case,  about  which  I  made  a  few  enquiries,  which  is  given 
by  Mr.  Darwin,  but  is  not  included  in  my  returns,  there  was  no 
known  family  tendency  to  the  peculiarity  which  was  observed  in 
the  twins  of  having  a  crooked  little  finger.  In  another  pair  of 
twins,  one  was  born  ruptured  and  the  other  became  so  at  six 


THE  HEREDITARY  BASIS  25 

months  old.  Two  twins  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  were  attacked 
by  toothache,  and  the  same  tooth  had  to  be  extracted  in  each  case. 
There  are  curious  and  close  correspondences  mentioned  in  the 
falling  off  of  the  hair.  Two  cases  are  mentioned  of  death  from  the 
same  disease;  one  of  which  is  very  affecting.  The  outline  of  the 
story  was  that  the  twins  were  closely  alike  and  singularly  attached ; 
.  .  .  they  both  obtained  Government  clerkships  and  kept  house 
together,  when  one  sickened  and  died  of  Bright's  disease,  and  the 
other  also  sickened  of  the  same  disease  and  died  seven  months 
later."  The  other  cases  of  striking  resemblance  given  by  Galton 
and  the  additional  data  afforded  by  later  investigators  clearly 
indicate  the  existence  of  a  class  of  twins  characterized  either  by 
identical  inheritance,  or  an  inheritance  so  similar  as  to  be  unac- 
countable according  to  the  ordinary  laws  of  hereditary  transmis- 
sion. This  very  close  resemblance  in  bodily  and  mental  states 
commonly  persists  when  the  twins  have  been  long  separated  and 
exposed  to  different  environments.^ 

The  ordinary  differences  of  environment  met  with  in  the  life  of 
people  of  much  the  same  mental  status  apparently  fail  to  produce 
changes  in  the  personality  of  human  beings  as  great  as  commonly 
met  with  in  the  children  of  the  same  parents.  Whatever  may  be 
said  of  the  differences  which  either  heredity  or  environment 
might  produce,  there  are  strong  grounds  for  the  statement  of 
Gal  ton's  "that  nature  prevails  enormously  over  nurture  when 
the  differences  of  nurture  do  not  exceed  what  is  commonly  to  be 
found  among  persons  of  the  same  rank  of  society  and  in  the  same 
country.  My  fear  is,  that  my  evidence  may  seem  to  prove  too 
much,  and  be  discredited  on  that  account,  as  it  appears  contrary 
to  all  experience  that  nurture  should  go  for  so  little.  But  expe- 
rience is  often  fallacious  in  ascribing  great  effects  to  trifling  cir- 
cumstances. Many  a  person  has  amused  himself  with  throwing 
bits  of  stick  into  a  tiny  brook  and  watching  their  progress;  how 
they  are  arrested,  first  by  one  chance  obstacle,  then  by  another; 
and  again,  how  their  onward  course  is  facilitated  by  a  combina- 

Additional  information  on  the  subject  may  be  found  in  number  9  of  the  Journal 
of  Heredity  (Dec,  1909),  which  is  devoted  entirely  to  twins. 


26  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

tion  of  circumstances.  He  might  ascribe  much  importance  to 
each  of  these  events,  and  think  how  largely  the  destiny  of  the 
stick  had  been  governed  by  a  series  of  trifling  accidents.  Never- 
theless all  the  sticks  succeed  in  passing  down  the  current,  and  in 
the  long-run,  they  travel  at  nearly  the  same  rate.  So  it  is  with 
life,  in  respect  to  the  several  accidents  which  seem  to  have  had  a 
great  effect  upon  our  careers.  The  one  element,  that  varies  in 
different  individuals,  but  is  constant  in  each  of  them,  is  the  natu- 
ral tendency;  it  corresponds  to  the  current  in  the  stream,  and 
inevitably  asserts  itself." 

REFERENCES 

The  reader  who  wishes  to  inform  himself  on  the  present  status  of  the  science  of 
genetics  will  find  a  number  of  good  recent  books  among  which  may  be  mentioned 
Castle's  Genclics  and  Eugenics;  Babcock  and  Clausen's  Genetics  in  Relation  to 
Agriculture;  Bateson's,  MendeVs  Principles  of  Heredity;  Plate's  Vererbungslehre; 
Goldschmidt's  EinfUhrung  in  die  Vererbungswissenschaft;  Morgan's  Physical  Basis 
of  Heredity;  Morgan's  et  al.  Mechanism  of  Mendelian  Heredity;  Walter's  Genetics 
and  Punnett's  Mendelism.  Thomson's  Heredity,  although  not  brought  up  to 
date  is  still  a  useful  general  treatise.  Of  more  special  connection  with  the  preced- 
ing chapter  are  the  following: 

Harrington,  A.,  and  Pearson,  K.    A  First  Study  of  the  Inheritance  of  Vision  and  of 
the  Relative  Influence  of  Heredity  and  Environment  on  Sight.     Eugen.  Lab. 
Mems.,  5,  1909. 
Conklin,  E.  G.    Heredity  and  Environment  in  the  Development  of  Men.    Prince- 
ton Univ.  Press,  3d  ed.,  1919. 
Darwin,  L.    Heredity  and  Environment.    Eugen.  Rev.  5,  153-154,  1913.    See  also 

1.  c.  8,  93-122,  1916. 
Davenport,  C.  B.    Heredity  in  Relation  to  Eugenics.    Holt  and  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1911. 
Elderton,  E.  M.    The  Relative  Strength  of  Nurture  and  Nature.     Eugen.  Lab. 

Lect.  Series,  3,  1909. 
Galton,  F.    Natural  Inheritance.    Macmillan  Co.,  London  and  N.  Y.,  1889.    In- 
quiries into  Human  Faculty.    Macmillan  Co.,  London,  1883,  and  subsequently 
in  Everyman's  Library. 
Pearl,  R.    Modes  of  Research  in  Genetics.    Macmillan  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1915. 
Pearson,  K.    The  Grammar  of  Science,  2d  ed.    A.  and  C.  Black,  London,  1900; 
Nature  and  Nurture.    The  Problem  of  the  Future.    Eugen.  Lab.  Lect.  Series, 
6,  1910. 
Popenoe,  P.    Nature  or  Nurture?    Jour.  Hered.,  6,  227-240,  1915. 
Weismann,  A.    Essays  on  Heredity,  2  vols.,  Clarendon  Press,  Oxford,  1891,  1892. 
The  Germ  Plasm,  W.  Scott,  London,  1893.    The  Evolution  Theory,  2  vols., 
Arnold,  London,  1904. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND 

DISEASE 

"Our  human  civilized  stock  is  far  more  weakly  through  congenital 
imperfection  than  that  of  any  other  species  of  animals,  whether  wild  or 
domestic." — Francis  Galton,  Inquiries  into  Human  Faculty. 

That  many  forms  of  mental  deficiency  and  disorder  are  capable 
of  hereditary  transmission,  has  long  been  recognized,  but  it  is 
only  recently  that  attempts  have  been  made  to  discover  the 
precise  rules  according  to  which  such  transmission  takes  place. 
Much,  however,  still  remains  obscure  in  regard  to  this  important 
topic.  The  vast  literature  on  the  subject  contained  in  works  on 
medicine  and  pathology,  in  numerous  medical  journals  and  va- 
rious other  publications  consists  mainly  in  the  discussion  of  iso- 
lated cases  of  transmission,  or  the  compilation  of  mass  statistics 
from  the  records  of  institutions  for  the  care  of  the  mentally  ab- 
normal. Institutional  records  being  often  gathered  in  a  more  or 
less  perfunctory  manner,  and  by  many  different  persons,  are  apt 
to  include  numerous  inaccuracies  and  are  pretty  sure  to  fall  short 
of  the  desired  degree  of  fullness.  The  relatives  of  mental  defec- 
tives from  motives  of  family  pride  frequently  conceal  the  exist- 
ence of  defects  in  other  members  of  the  family,  and  even  when 
they  honestly  attempt  to  give  all  the  information  they  possess 
they  often  fail  to  furnish  data  of  any  value. 

It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  encounter  wide  differences  of 
opinion  among  authorities  concerning  the  extent  to  which  various 
forms  of  defect  depend  upon  a  hereditary  diathesis.  Practically 
everyone  whose  opinion  is  of  any  value  concedes  to  heredity  a 
certain  role  in  the  causation  of  neuropathic  traits.  A  part  of  the 
difference  of  opinion  doubtless  depends  upon  the  circumstance 
that  the  relative  potency  of  hereditary  and  environmental  factors 

27 


28  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

is  often  difficult  to  estimate;  but  it  requires  no  great  discernment 
to  perceive  that  many  rather  confident  expressions  of  opinion  are 
based  on  lack  of  familiarity  with  the  principles  of  hereditary 
transmission,  or  a  very  inadequate  acquaintance  with  the  investi- 
gations that  have  been  made  in  this  field. 

The  method  of  investigation  employed  by  the  Eugenics  Record 
Office  at  Cold  Spring  Harbor,  Long  Island,  is  one  that  is  in  some 
respects  considerably  superior  to  those  commonly  followed. 
Instead  of  collecting  mass  statistics  a  more  intensive  study  is 
made  of  special  cases.  For  this  purpose  trained  field  workers  are 
employed  who  make  the  acquaintance  of  the  relatives  of  the 
patients  investigated,  get  into  friendly  relations  with  them,  and 
through  personal  impressions  and  a  knowledge  of  their  history  are 
enabled  to  form  a  tolerably  accurate  judgment  of  their  mental 
status.  The  full  and  careful  study  of  several  pedigrees  of  mental 
defectives  promises  to  throw  more  light  on  the  precise  method  in 
which  mental  defects  are  inherited  than  any  amount  of  unana- 
lyzed  data  collected  from  the  loose  records  of  institutions.  Field 
workers  need  to  be  psychologists  skilled  in  the  methods  of  meas- 
uring intelligence  and  of  detecting  mental  aberrations,  and  en- 
dowed with  the  attributes  of  tact,  patience  and  an  ingratiating 
personality.  Data  secured  by  field  workers  have  already  been 
proven  of  considerable  value  in  throwing  light  on  the  probable 
mode  of  transmission  of  mental  defect,  although  there  is  room  for 
considerable  refinement  of  method  and  thoroughness  of  enquiry 
in  much  of  the  investigation  which  has  thus  far  been  carried  on. 
The  intensive  study  of  pedigrees  has  been  the  chief  method  of 
those  whose  aim  it  has  been  to  show  that  mental  defect  is  trans- 
mitted according  to  Mendel's  law.  Whatever  may  be  the  issue  of 
the  controversy  over  whether  or  not  mental  defects  behave  as 
mendelizing  unit  characters,  insight  into  the  question  can  only 
come  by  the  thorough,  critical  and  unbiased  study  of  particular 
pedigrees. 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE     29 

INHERITANCE  OF  FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS 

Feeble-mindedness  may  occur  in  various  degrees  from  the 
lowest  grades  of  idiocy  to  the  condition  occurring  in  those  who 
are  classed  as  "dull  normal."  In  most  of  the  feeble-minded  there 
is  a  general  lack  of  mental  power,  but  exceptional  cases  occur  in 
which  highly  developed  special  talents  go  along  with  marked 
deficiency  in  other  respects.  Blind  Tom  who  possessed  a  phenom- 
enal aptitude  for  playing  any  piece  of  music  he  may  have  heard 
was  practically  an  imbecile.  Often  these  "  idiots  savants  "  possess 
remarkable  memory,  as  in  the  case  of  the  boy  described  by  Lang- 
don  Down,  who  could  repeat  verbatim  pages  from  a  book  that  he 
had  once  read.  Some  of  the  mathematical  prodigies  are  otherwise 
mentally  defective.  Heron  reports  a  boy,  nearly  an  idiot,  who 
when  given  a  man's  age  could  calculate  quickly  the  number  of 
minutes  he  had  lived.  Another  boy  could  multiply  any  three 
figures  with  any  three  others  almost  as  rapidly  as  they  were 
written,  although  he  was  of  a  very  low  grade  of  mentality. 

From  a  eugenic  standpoint  the  very  lowest  types  of  mental 
defectives,  such  as  idiots,  do  not  present  a  very  difficult  problem 
as  they  cannot  care  for  themselves  and  are,  therefore,  usually 
kept  as  institutional  charges  where  they  cannot  propagate  their 
kind.  Similarly  the  low  grades  of  the  feeble-minded  are  quite 
easily  dealt  with,  so  that  there  is  a  tendency  for  the  very  lowest 
types  of  mentality  to  disappear  of  themselves.  The  death  rate  of 
the  lower  grades  of  defectives  is  relatively  high.  Barr  states  that 
out  of  625  mental  defectives  the  largest  number  of  deaths  oc- 
curred between  the  tenth  and  twentieth  years;  "comparatively 
few  passed  the  twenty-fifth  year."  Tuberculosis,  epilepsy, 
pneumonia  and  diseases  of  the  digestive  system  were  the  most 
frequent  causes  of  death.  Institutional  life  may  have  increased 
this  death  rate,  as  it  only  too  often  has  done  in  homes  for  orphan 
children,  but  the  lower  grades  of  mental  defect  belong  to  poor 
physical  stock  which  has  a  natural  tendency  to  become  extinct. 
It  is  the  higher  grades  of  feeble-mindedness  which  are  eugenically 
and  socially  the  greatest  menace.    Apparently  normal  and  even 


30  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

superficially  bright,  many  of  the  moron  class  pass  for  people 
of  average  intelligence;  or  at  least  they  do  not  attract  general 
attention  on  account  of  their  inferior  intellect.  This  class  con- 
stitutes a  considerable  proportion  of  human  beings  who  being 
unable  to  support  themselves  are  apt  to  become  a  public  burden. 
It  furnishes  the  criminal  class  with  a  considerable  proportion .  of 
its  recruits,  and  it  supplies  a  large  number  of  prostitutes,  a  class 
which  recent  studies  have  shown  to  contain  a  high  percentage  of 
mentally  inferior  women. 

The  feeble-minded  tend  to  marry  their  own  kind,  or  to  produce 
children  without  the  ceremony  of  marriage.  In  cities  they  tend 
to  drift  into  association  with  vicious  and  criminal  elements  of  the 
community  and  are  often  led  into  vice  and  crune  more  through 
inherent  weakness  of  intellect  and  will  than  natural  depravity  of 
their  own.  In  the  country  they  frequently  segregate  into  com- 
munities, where  there  is  often  intermarriage  of  related  stocks 
which  brings  forth  the  latent  defects  of  both  sides.  Such  rural 
communities  are  characterized  by  poverty,  alcoholism,  sexual 
immorality  and  crime.  The  histories  of  several  notorious  feeble- 
minded families  have  been  followed  in  recent  years  and  they  have 
yielded  results  of  much  interest  and  importance  to  students  of 
social  problems.  One  of  the  most  noteworthy  of  these  instances 
forms  the  subject-matter  of  Goddard's  fascinating  book.  The 
Kallikak  Family.  The  starting  point  of  the  investigation  de- 
scribed in  this  book  was  made  in  the  effort  to  trace  the  ancestry  of 
a  feeble-minded  girl,  Deborah,  who  had  become  an  inmate  of  a 
home  for  the  feeble-minded  at  Vineland,  N.  J.  Deborah  had  been 
born  in  the  almshouse.  Her  mother  was  feeble-minded  and  had 
had  several  other  children  by  various  men.  The  field  worker, 
Miss  E.  S.  Kite,  who  worked  out  the  genealogy  of  the  Kallikak 
family,  succeeded  in  tracing  its  ancestry  to  a  Martin  Kallikak,  a 
soldier  in  the  revolutionary  war.  While  at  an  inn  Martin  Kalli- 
kak made  the  acquaintance  of  a  feeble-minded  girl  by  whom  he 
had  a  son  named  Martin  Kallikak,  Jr.  Later  Martin  Kallikak 
married  a  normal  woman  of  good  family  and  raised  several  chil- 
dren.   "All  of  the  legitimate  children  of  Martin,  Sr.,  married  into 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    31 

the  best  families  in  their  state,  the  descendants  of  colonial  gover- 
nors, signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  soldiers  and 
even  the  founders  of  a  great  university.  Indeed,  in  this  family 
and  its  collateral  branches,  we  find  nothing  but  good  representa- 
tive citizenship.  There  are  doctors,  lawyers,  judges,  educators, 
traders,  landholders,  in  short,  respectable  citizens,  men  and 
women  prominent  in  every  phase  of  social  life.  They  have 
scattered  over  the  United  States  and  are  prominent  in  their 
communities  wherever  they  have  gone.  Half  a  dozen  towns  in 
New  Jersey  are  named  from  the  families  into  which  Martin's 
descendants  have  married.  There  have  been  no  feeble-minded 
among  them;  no  illegitimate  children;  no  immoral  women;  only 
one  man  was  sexually  loose." 

In  sharp  contrast  to  this  branch  of  the  family  stand  the  descend- 
ants of  the  feeble-minded  girl.  Of  these  480  have  been  traced. 
*'One  hundred  and  forty-three  of  these,"  says  Goddard,  "we  have 
conclusive  proof  were  or  are  feeble-minded,  while  only  forty-six 
have  been  found  normal.  The  rest  are  unknown  or  doubtful. 
Of  these  descendants  there  have  been  36  illegitimate,  33  sexually 
immoral,  mostly  prostitutes,  24  confirmed  alcoholics,  3  epileptics, 
82  died  in  infancy,  3  criminals,  8  kept  houses  of  ill  fame.  The 
Kallikaks  married  into  other  families,  usually  of  their  own  type, 
producing  1,146  individuals.  "Of  this  large  group,"  says  God- 
dard, "we  have  discovered  that  two  hundred  and  sixty- two 
were  feeble-minded,  while  one  hundred  and  ninety-seven  are  con- 
sidered normal,  the  remaining  five  hundred  and  eighty-one  being 
still  undetermined." 

The  history  of  this  family  is  a  long  tale  of  feeble-mindedness, 
alcoholism,  poverty  and  prostitution.  Children  were  numerous, 
but  although  infant  mortality  was  high,  the  family  increased 
rapidly  in  successive  generations.  Wherever  the  Kallikaks 
wandered,  whether  in  the  backwoods  or  in  the  slums  of  cities  they 
retained  the  same  characteristics. 

There  are  several  Kallikak  families,  several  of  which,  such  as 
the  Nams,  Pineys,  Hill  Folk,  Tribe  of  Ishmael,  Zeroes,  etc., 
show  little  but  a  monotonous  repetition  of  the  same  history 


32  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

of  pauperism,  alcoholism,  harlotry  and  frequently  graver  forms 
of  crime. 

Several  investigators  have  drawn  the  conclusion  that  feeble- 
mindedness, which  is  an  inherited  trait  in  probably  four-fifths  of 
the  cases,  is  transmitted  as  a  recessive  or  partially  recessive 
character,  although  it  is  not  so  evident  that  it  behaves  as  a  single 
unit  in  inheritance.  Feeble-minded  children  sometimes  come 
from  normal  parents,  both  of  whom,  however,  may  have  been 
heterozygous  for  feeble-mindedness.  Such  children  frequently 
result  from  the  mating  of  a  feeble-minded  person  with  a  normal 
individual,  but  when  both  parents  are  feeble-minded  we  find  that 
in  nearly  all  cases  all  the  children  are  feeble-minded,  as  we  should 
expect.  The  few  recorded  exceptions  to  this  rule  may  be  due  to 
illegitimacy  which  is  a  not  infrequent  occurrence  among  this 
class,  or  to  mistaken  judgment  of  the  parents'  or  the  child's  men- 
tal condition,  or  the  fact  that  one  parent  may  have  been  feeble- 
minded through  accident  or  disease.  Out  of  41  matings  in  the 
Kallikak  family  in  which  both  parents  were  feeble-minded  there 
were  222  feeble-minded  children  and  only  two  others  that  were 
considered  normal.  In  his  work  on  Feeble-mindedness  Goddard 
states  that  of  482  children  both  of  whose  parents  were  feeble- 
minded all  but  six  were  reported  to  be  feeble-minded  also. 

The  conclusion  of  Goddard  that  only  mentally  defective 
children  are  to  be  expected  from  two  mentally  defective  parents 
which  was  announced  by  Davenport  in  191 1  as  "the  first  law  of 
inheritance  of  mental  ability"  was  materially  modified  in  a  paper 
on  the  Hill  Folk  published  by  Danielson  and  Davenport  in  191 2. 
"The  analysis  of  the  data,"  according  to  the  authors,  "gives 
statistical  support  to  the  conclusion  abundantly  justified  from 
numerous  other  considerations,  that  feeble-mindedness  is  no  ele- 
mentary trait,  but  is  a  legal  or  sociological,  rather  than  a  biologi- 
cal term.  Feeble-mindedness  is  due  to  the  absence,  now  of  one 
set  of  traits,  now  of  quite  a  different  set.  Only  when  both  parents 
lack  one  or  more  of  the  same  traits  do  the  children  all  lack  the 
traits.  So,  if  the  traits  lacking  in  both  parenrs  are  socially  impor- 
tant the  children  all  lack  socially  important  traits,  i.  c,  are  feeble- 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    33 

minded.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  two  parents  lack  different 
socially  significant  traits,  so  that  each  parent  brings  into  the  com- 
bination the  traits  that  the  other  lacks,  all  of  the  children  may 
be  without  serious  lack  and  aU  pass  for  'normal. '  " 

This  change  of  front  is  due  to  the  discovery  of  several  cases  in 
which  it  was  alleged  that  normal  individuals  were  produced  by 
parents  both  of  whom  were  mentally  defective.  In  fact  the 
percentage  of  such  cases  was  rather  high.  Considering  both  low 
grade  and  high  grade  feeble-mindedness  together  it  was  found 
that  the  percentage  of  defectives  resulting  from  nulliplex  matings 
(feeble-minded  X  feeble-minded)  was  only  77.3  per  cent  instead  of 
100  per  cent.  Matings  of  normal  N  N  with  feeble-minded  n  n 
give  37.5  per  cent  of  defectives  instead  of  none  which  would  be 
expected  even  on  Danielson  and  Davenport's  own  hypothesis. 
No  explanation,  however,  of  the  latter  discrepancy  is  offered. 

Chances  for  error  in  the  investigation  of  the  mentality  of  such 
communities  as  the  Hill  Folk  are  numerous  as  the  authors  seem 
to  realize.  "The  problem  that  a  field  worker  meets  is  to  analyze 
each  person  in  the  pedigree  in  respect  to  his  mental  and  moral 
traits  from  a  complete  acquaintance  and  from  a  comparison  of  the 
description  of  others.  After  all  the  evidence  from  personal  visits, 
interviews  with  relatives,  physicians,  town  officials,  and  reliable 
neighbors,  and  facts  from  court  and  town  records  have  been 
collected,  it  is,  even  then,  difficult  to  represent  these  characteris- 
tics exactly  by  the  standard  symbols  which  are  used  for  the 
biological  study  of  inherited  traits.  The  distinction  between  an 
ignorant  person  who  has  normal  mental  ability  and  a  high-grade 
feeble-minded  one  who  has  not,  is  often  as  impossible  to  make 
as  that  between  medium  and  low  grade  feeble-mindedness." 

A  careful  examination  of  the  Hill  Folk  will  show  that  it  exhibits 
httle  internal  evidence  of  critical  judgment,  which  is  so  necessary 
in  dealing  with  the  inheritance  of  mental  defect.  We  find  in 
examining  the  alleged  matings  of  feeble-minded  with  feeble- 
minded that  in  one  case  all  that  is  said  of  the  mental  state  of  one 
consort  is  that  he  was  "a  wild  immoral  fellow";  of  another,  that 
he  was  "a  plodding  dull  drinking  fellow";  of  another,  that  he 


34  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

belonged  to  an  ''unintelligent  family";  of  another,  that  he  was 
"a  good  workman,  but  very  alcoholic,"  besides  being  "round- 
shouldered,  narrow-chested,  and  in  poor  physical  condition";  of 
another,  that  he  was  "a  wild  fellow,"  who  broke  into  a  house  with 
intent  to  rape;  of  another,  that  he  was  "a  shiftless  drinking  fel- 
low"; who  later  got  into  trouble  for  assaulting  an  officer;  of 
another,  that  she  was  "shiftless  and  neurotic"  and  married  a 
"shiftless  and  alcoholic  man."  When  such  persons  are  put  down 
as  feeble-minded  our  confidence  in  the  proper  classification  of  the 
matings  becomes  rudely  shaken.  The  authors  seem  to  consider 
shiftlessness  as  almost  tantamount  to  feeble-mindedness,  and  if 
this  is  combined  with  alcoholism  or  sexual  irregularity  the  judg- 
ment of  the  mental  condition  of  the  offender  is  apt  to  be  particu- 
larly harsh.  Estimates  made  after  a  "brief  acquaintance,"  or 
from  "descriptions  of  others,"  etc.,  when  we  are  attempting  to 
gauge  the  innate  ability  of  people  of  little  education,  raised  in  a 
very  unfavorable  environment,  and  often  with  a  constitution 
impaired  by  the  use  of  alcohol,  are  very  apt  to  be  biased.  One 
cannot  take  seriously  conclusions  based  on  evidence  of  this  sort. 
It  is  of  course  not  improbable  a  priori  that  feeble-mindedness  may 
rest  upon  different  forms  of  hereditary  defect  in  different  individ- 
uals. But  that  offspring  of  normal  mentality  may  be  produced 
from  two  parents  who  are  hereditarily  feeble-minded  cannot  be 
considered  as  established,  I  think,  by  the  data  of  Danielson  and 
Davenport's  memoir.^ 

Notwithstanding  the  striking  results  obtained  by  Goddard  the 
complete  dominance  of  normal  mentality  over  feeble-mindedness 
cannot  be  regarded  as  clearly  established.  In  a  very  large  number 
of  cases  in  which  characters  obey  the  Mendelian  rules  of  segrega- 
tion the  organisms  which  are  heterozygous  for  the  characters  in 
question  show  a  more  or  less  intermediate  condition.  Frequently, 
as  in  the  dominance  of  polydactylism,  there  is  a  large  degree  of 
variation  in  the  extent  to  which  the  dominant  character  is  devel- 

^  Dr.  Tredgold  who  has  carefully  traced  many  pedigrees  of  feeble-minded  families 
states  that  his  experience  bears  out  the  conclusion  "that  the  mating  of  two  mentally 
defective  individuals  yields  offspring  who  are  all  defective." 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    35 

oped.  In  the  Fi  generation  of  a  nonnal  and  a  polydactylous 
person  the  dominant  character  varies  from  complete  development 
to  entire  absence  of  visible  somatic  expression.  In  view  of  the 
frequency  of  such  facts  as  these,  and  considering  also  the  contin- 
uous variability  in  the  manifestation  of  mental  qualities  in  gen- 
eral, it  is  inadmissible  to  draw  the  conclusion  that  the  mating  of  a 
normal  person,  even  of  sound  stock,  with  a  mental  defective  will 
be  productive  of  mentally  normal  offspring.  The  supposition 
that  matings  of  this  sort  are  productive  of  offspring  whose  mental 
characters  tend  to  be  more  or  less  intermediate  between  those  of 
their  parents,  is  one  that  is  quite  in  accord  with  the  large  body  of 
facts  that  has  accumulated  on  the  inheritance  of  mental  traits. 
There  are  cases  in  which  the  mating  of  a  person  of  good  intelligence 
with  a  person  of  subnormal  mentality  has  resulted  in  fairly  intelli- 
gent offspring,  but  unions  of  this  kind  as  a  rule  are  not  productive 
of  happy  results.  Normal  progeny  from  such  matings  may  repre- 
sent cases  where  for  some  reason,  the  dominance  of  one  parent  is 
unusually  complete.  But  the  many  cases  in  which  the  matings  of 
normal  and  defective  are  productive  of  a  variable  degree  of  mental 
defect  in  the  offspring  may  be  to  a  considerable  degree  the  result 
of  imperfect  and  variable  dominance. 

It  has  been  generally  assumed  by  a  number  of  American  work- 
ers that  where  mental  defectives  arise  from  such  matings  the 
apparently  normal  person  was  heterozygous.  To  account  for  the 
large  number  of  defectives  thus  arising  it  has  to  be  supposed  that 
people  heterozygous  for  mental  defect  are  very  common.  In 
Goddard's  charts  {Bull.  Eugen.  Rec.  Of.  No.  i)  out  of  thirty 
matings  of  feeble-minded  with  presumably  normal  individuals  all 
but  two  produced  some  feeble-minded  offspring.  In  one  of  these 
(chart  6)  three  of  the  offspring,  although  they  were  marked  nor- 
mal, had  feeble-minded  children.  In  the  other  family  the  only 
recorded  mating  among  the  presumably  normal  children  was 
between  an  alcoholic  woman  and  a  man  marked  normal  from 
another  stock.  This  mating  produced  three  normal  and  two 
feeble-minded  children. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  the  people  marked 


36  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

normal  who  mate  with  the  feeble-minded  are  apt  to  be  people  of 
relatively  poor  stock.  Probably  many  of  them  should  be  classed 
as  high-grade  morons,  or  at  least  people  below  the  average  grade 
of  intellect.  A  considerable  proportion  of  them  carry  the  germs  of 
other  forms  of  defect  and  many  of  them  are  addicted  to  alcohol. 
The  individuals  designated  in  the  charts  as  N,  with  perhaps  more 
of  courtesy  than  they  really  deserve,  are  scarcely  comparable  to 
the  average  of  the  general  population.  The  charts,  which  are 
frequently  chosen  to  illustrate  striking  cases,  may  give  an  exag- 
gerated notion  of  the  frequency  with  which  the  matings  of  feeble- 
minded and  normal  produce  feeble-minded  offspring.  However, 
when  one  goes  over  the  matings  in  the  Kallikak  family  where  all 
the  known  matings  are  recorded,  it  will  be  found  that  feeble- 
minded offspring  result  from  over  two-thirds  of  the  cases  of  nor- 
mal X  feeble-minded  matings.  As  we  have  seen,  the  mating  of 
normal  and  feeble-minded  among  the  Hill  Folk  gave  37.5  per 
cent  of  defective  offspring. 

It  is  evident  that  we  need  not  assume  that  our  inheritance 
is  vitiated  to  the  extent  that  these  studies  seem  to  indicate  if 
we  grant  that  the  dominance  of  mental  normality  is  imperfect  and 
variable.  A  tendency  toward  defectiveness  is  not  only  subject 
to  various  environmental  influences  both  before  and  after  birth, 
but  it  is  combined  with  various  other  hereditary  traits  in  different 
offspring  which  could  scarcely  fail  to  influence  its  expression.  In 
the  case  of  the  insane  diathesis  we  should  expect  that  such  in- 
fluences would  have  a  profound  effect  on  the  manifestation  of 
insanity,  and  in  feeble-mindedness  they  might  well  produce 
differences  which  would  determine  whether  or  not  a  person  were 
classed  as  feeble-minded  or  as  normal. 

Both  Heron  and  Pearson  have  contended  with  much  reason 
that  mental  defect  varies  continuously.  There  are  all  grades  from 
the  lowest  forms  of  idiots  to  high-grade  morons,  and  there  is  no 
line  which  can  be  drawn  between  the  latter  and  people  of  normal 
intelligence.  Mental  defectiveness  is  a  matter  of  degree,  varying 
like  height,  weight,  physical  strength,  hair  color  and  a  number  of 
other  human  qualities,  in  a  manner  that  permits  of  no  grouping 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    37 

into  clearly  defined  classes.  This  fact  does  not  necessarily  indi- 
cate, as  Pearson  and  Heron  imply,  that  the  various  kinds  of  men- 
tal defect  are  not  transmitted  according  to  Mendel's  law.  It  is 
not  uncommon  for  segregation  to  occur  in  the  usual  Mendelian 
manner,  although  the  character  segregated  may  fluctuate  so  as  to 
form  a  perfectly  continuous  series.  Where  the  germinal  factors 
manifest  themselves  somatically  in  characters  that  undergo  a 
large  amount  of  fluctuating  variability,  it  naturally  makes  the 
demonstration  of  Mendelian  segregation  more  difficult.  Where, 
as  in  human  beings,  it  is  not  feasible  to  employ  experimental 
methods  of  analysis  the  difficulty  of  establishing  Mendelian 
inheritance  beyond  cavil  is  greatly  enhanced.  One  has  to  be 
guided  by  probabilities.  The  best  that  can  be  done  is  to  select 
tentatively  that  hypothesis  which  gives  the  most  plausible  inter- 
pretation of  the  phenomena  to  be  explained  and  is  best  in  accord 
with  what  is  known  of  the  principles  of  inheritance  followed  in 
other  fields.  The  very  general  occurrence  of  Mendelian  inheri- 
tance among  plants  and  animals  of  both  primitive  and  highly 
organized  types,  and  the  remarkable  success  attained  in  explain- 
ing apparently  non-conformable  phenomena  in  terms  of  Mendel's 
law,  creates  a  very  justifiable  presumption  in  favor  of  the  conclu- 
sion that  mental  defects  are  transmitted  according  to  the  same 
laws  that  prevail  so  widely  in  the  plant  and  animal  world.  That 
inheritance  in  man  obeys  the  laws  followed  by  organisms  in  gen- 
eral is  also  indicated  by  the  undoubted  appearance  of  types  of 
Mendelian  inheritance  among  human  characteristics. 

But  while  the  general  occurrence  of  Mendelian  inheritance  in 
the  organic  world  creates  a  presumption  in  favor  of  the  conclusion 
that  mental  traits  in  man  are  transmitted  according  to  the  same 
rule,  it  must  be  conceded  that  there  are  certain  characters  whose 
mode  of  transmission  seems  to  present  a  clear  exception  to  this 
type  of  inheritance.  It  is  true  that  such  cases  are  comparatively 
rare.  But  there  is  a  much  larger  number  of  cases  which  may 
follow  Mendel's  law,  but  in  which  it  has  never  been  proven  that 
they  actually  do  follow  it.  The  successful  extension  of  Mendelian 
analysis  may  justify  us  in  shifting  the  burden  of  proof  from  the 


38  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

shoulders  of  the  Mendelian  to  those  of  his  opponent.  But  if  it  is 
granted  that  a  characteristic  is  transmitted  according  to  Mendel's 
law  it  remains  to  be  determined  whether  it  presents  a  simple 
typical  illustration  of  such  transmission  or  follows  a  more  complex 
type  of  Mendelian  inheritance.  Where  several  factors  are  in- 
volved, inheritance,  though  Mendelian,  may  present  the  appear- 
ance of  the  old-fashioned  blending  type,  and  should  be  dealt  with 
in  practice  as  though  it  were  truly  blending. 

Let  us  suppose  for  instance  that  feeble-mindedness  depends 
not  upon  the  loss  of  a  single  factor  in  the  germ  plasm,  as  com- 
monly assumed,  but  upon  the  presence  of  many  such  factors 
belonging  to  different  allelomorphic  pairs.  The  matings  of  two 
feeble-minded  persons,  thus  bringing  together  two  germ  plasms 
generally  tainted  with  defectiveness,  would  be  expected  to  produce 
nothing  but  feeble-minded  offspring.  The  matings  of  a  normal 
with  a  feeble-minded  person  migh  tbe  expected  to  produce  variable 
results.  Various  factors  affecting  mentality  in  the  normal  individ- 
ual would  doubtless  tend  to  give  rise  to  various  degress  of  mental 
development.  There  would  doubtless  be  also  a  considerable 
variation  in  the  gametes  contributed  by  the  feeble-minded  person. 
Some  of  the  combinations  of  germ  cells  might  be  expected  to 
produce  a  much  better  mental  inheritance  than  others.  Add  to 
the  congenital  differences  thus  arising,  other  changes  due  to 
intra-uterine  influence,  circumstances  affecting  early  childhood, 
and  various  other  environmental  factors,  and  we  would  get  a 
varied  group  whose  individual  members  would  be  classed  as 
feeble-minded  or  normal,  in  proportions  varying  according  to  the 
standard  of  the  person  making  the  classification  and  the  correct- 
ness of  his  judgment  of  the  persons  passed  upon.  Naturally  the 
categories  found  could  be  interpreted  as  resulting  either  from  the 
mating  DRXRR  or,  in  case  all  the  offspring  were  considered 
normal,  from  DD  X  RR,  the  normal  parent  being  designated  after 
the  usual  fashion  as  DD  or  DR  according  to  whatever  assumption 
is  necessary  to  bring  the  facts  into  accord  with  the  theory.  It  is 
practically  impossible  to  determine  that  a  person  is  a  DR  unless 
one  of  his  immediate  parents  is  an  RR.    The  presence  of  RR's  in 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    39 

near  relatives  may  establish  a  certain  presumption  in  favor  of  his 
being  heterozygous,  but  it  does  not  prove  it. 

Most  of  the  facts  of  the  inheritance  of  mental  defect  are  con- 
formable to  the  hypothesis  that  such  defect  is  dependent  upon  a 
number  of  factors  instead  of  a  single  one.  If  the  factors  for 
heritable  qualities  are  borne  by  chromosomes,  as  there  is  now  such 
strong  evidence  for  believing,  is  not  every  chromosome,  or  even 
every  part  of  a  chromosome  the  bearer  of  factors  that  influence 
mentality?  Is  it  conceivable  that  there  is  a  unit  factor  for  mind 
located  somewhere  in  a  chromosome?  There  may  be  specialized 
parts  of  the  chromosome  complex  whose  influence  on  the  develop- 
ment of  the  body  is  such  that  if  they  are  modified  they  produce 
a  heritable  mental  defect.  It  is  of  course  possible  that  a  change 
even  in  a  small  part  of  a  chromosome  would  produce  the  defect  in 
question.  It  is  also  possible  that  the  development  of  superior 
ability  may  require  the  influence  of  a  special  part  of  an  indi\adual 
chromosome.  But,  since  in  the  absence  of  both  these  chromosome 
regions  we  have  mentioned,  some  type  of  mentality  would  doubt- 
less be  produced  if  we  should  get  an  organism  at  all,  it  seems 
improbable  a  priori  that  the  inheritance  of  general  mental  develop- 
ment would  follow  the  simple  Mendelian  formula  for  the  inheri- 
tance of  two  contrasted  characters.  In  general,  it  may  be  prob- 
able that  the  lower  types  of  mentality  are  recessive  to  the  higher 
types  much  as  lighter  shades  of  coat  color  in  mammals  are  usually 
recessive  (or  hypostatic)  to  the  darker  shades.  While  a  feeble- 
minded person  may  be  one  whose  infirmity  is  due  to  a  particular 
modified  factor  he,  or  at  least  some  feeble-minded  persons,  may 
owe  the  defect  to  more  widespread  damage  to  the  germ  plasm.  I 
very  much  doubt  if  the  facts  concerning  the  inheritance  of  defect 
are  as  yet  known  with  sufficient  precision  to  warrant  our  tr^^ing  to 
force  them  into  simple  Mendelian  formulae.  Of  course,  if  two 
stocks  differ  by  a  single  factor  only,  their  progeny  would  be  ex- 
pected to  afford  an  illustration  of  simple  Mendelian  inheritance. 
But  since  the  inheritance  of  any  human  family  probably  differs  in 
very  numerous  ways  from  that  of  any  other,  and  since  any  change 
in  any  part  of  the  germ  plasm  could  scarcely  help  having  a  certain 


40  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

influence  on  the  mentality  of  the  individual  concerned,  it  is  a 
priori  very  improbable  that  the  inheritance  of  mental  defect  is 
adequately  describable  in  simple  Mendelian  terms.  Most  of  the 
charts  which  group  human  beings  categorically  as  feeble-minded 
or  normal,  as  we  class  mice  as  gray  or  albino,  take  no  account  of 
the  varied  manifestations  of  mentality  which  really  occur.  They 
are  liable  to  give  a  false  or  misleading  appearance  of  simplicity 
which  in  fact  has  no  existence. 

Whether  the  inheritance  of  mental  defect  follows  simple  or 
complex  Mendelian  formulas,  or  whether,  indeed,  it  may  not  take 
place  according  to  the  older  conceptions  of  blending  inheritance, 
makes  comparatively  little  difference  in  the  practical  treatment  of 
hereditarily  defective  persons.  The  fact  that  defective  mentality 
is  strongly  transmitted  is  established  beyond  the  possibility  of 
sane  objection,  and  the  particularly  disastrous  results  that  are 
pretty  sure  to  follow  from  the  mating  of  two  mental  defectives 
have  certainly  been  made  sufficiently  impressive  by  the  work  of 
recent  investigators. 

EPILEPSY 

Although  Morel  questioned  its  hereditary  transmission,  there 
is  now  a  general  consensus  of  opinion  that  epilepsy  is  often 
inherited.  This  dreaded  malady  occurs  in  a  variety  of  forms 
(petit  mal,  grand  mal,  Jacksonian  epilepsy,  etc.)  and  is  frequently 
associated  wdth  other  forms  of  defect  such  as  feeble-mindedness 
and  insanity.  Many  cases  are  doubtless  to  be  attributed  to 
trauma,  disease  and  alcohol,  although  a  part  of  such  cases  prob- 
ably have  a  basis  in  inheritance  as  well.  Concerning  the  propor- 
tion of  cases  attributable  to  heredity  I  can  do  no  better  than  to 
quote  from  Barr  {Mental  Defectives,  p.  212)  "Hammond  in  a  study 
of  171  epileptics,  finds  heredity  a  cause  in  45, — 21  of  these  proving 
direct;  Echeverria  gives  26  per  cent  of  306  as  descendants  of 
epileptic  parents.  Delasiauve  found  the  same  in  33  out  of  300 
cases,  and  Herpin  10  in  68  cases.  .  .  .  Hamilton  states  that  fully 
50  per  cent  of  his  980  cases  are  attributable  to  heredity.    Cowers 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    41 

gives  35  per  cent,  and  the  56  per  cent  of  my  table  coincides  with 
Spratling's  record  in  1,100  cases." 

The  gravity  of  the  disease  (it  is  seldom  curable)  and  its  not 
infrequent  connection  with  some  of  the  worst  crimes  of  violence, 
render  the  subject  of  its  mode  of  transmission  of  especial  impor- 
tance. The  first  serious  attempt  to  show  that  epilepsy  is  inherited 
according  to  Mendel's  law  was  made  by  Davenport  and  Weeks 
who  followed  up  the  pedigrees  of  many  of  the  inmates  of  the  New 
Jersey  State  Village  for  Epileptics  at  Skillman,  N.  J.  The  pedi- 
grees were  obtained  mainly  by  field  workers  and  the  data  were 
analyzed  according  to  the  assumption  that  the  matings  fell  into 
the  classes  which  might  be  expected  to  occur  in  simple  Mendelian 
inheritance.  We  quote  the  principal  conclusions  of  the  investiga- 
tion: "Epilepsy  and  feeble-mindedness  show  a  great  similarity  of 
behavior  in  heredity  supporting  the  hypothesis  that  each  is  due  to 
the  absence  of  a  protoplasmic  factor  that  determines  complete 
nervous  development." 

"When  both  parents  are  either  epileptic  or  feeble-minded  all 
their  children  are  so  likewise. 

"The  conditions  named  migraine,  chorea,  paralysis,  and  ex- 
treme nervousness  behave  as  though  due  to  a  simplex  condition 
of  the  protoplasmic  factor  that  conditions  complete  nervous 
development.  .  .  . 

"When  such  a  tainted  individual  is  mated  to  a  defective  about 
half  the  offspring  are  defective. 

"When  both  parents  are  simplex  .  .  .  and  'tainted'  about 
one-quarter  (actually  30  per  cent)  are  defective. 

"Normal  parents  that  have  epileptic  offspring  usually  show 
gross  nervous  defect  in  their  close  relatives. 

"While  we  recognize  that  'epilepsy'  is  a  complex,  yet  there  is  a 
classical  type  numerically  so  preponderant  that,  in  the  mass, 
'epilepsy'  acts  like  a  unit  defect." 

Only  one  instance  is  given  in  which  both  parents  were  epileptic 
and  it  happened  that  both  were  feeble-minded  also.  Of  their  four 
children  one  was  feeble-minded  and  died  before  14;  but  the  other 
3  all  developed  epilepsy.    In  a  subsequent  paper  by  Weeks  two 


42  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

additional  cases  are  given.  In  one  of  these  there  were  12  children 
who  survived  infancy  (there  being  4  stillborn).  Of  these  three 
were  epileptic,  one  was  feeble-minded,  two  were  migranous  and 
six  were  neurotic.  In  the  other  case  of  the  four  surviving  children 
(4  being  stillborn)  two  were  epileptic,  one  was  feeble-minded  and 
one  "unclassified."  In  the  two  latter  families  nothing  is  recorded 
of  the  ages  of  the  children  except  that  they  were  over  14,  although 
one  would  expect  some  explanation  of  the  apparent  discrepancy 
between  the  results  and  the  theoretical  expectations.  If  offspring 
from  two  epileptic  parents  may  be  simply  migranous  or  neurotic 
the  "character"  that  is  transmitted  must  be  subject  to  a  remark- 
able degree  of  fluctuation. 

As  the  authors  remark,  feeble-mindedness  and  epilepsy  appear 
to  be  closely  related  in  their  transmission.  Nine  matings  in  which 
both  parents  were  feeble-minded  gave  one  or  more  epileptics  in 
each  family,  while  a  larger  number  of  children  were  simply  feeble- 
minded. In  Week's  data  which  includes  all  the  cases  in  the  paper 
by  Davenport  and  Weeks  there  is  given  15  matings  in  which  one 
parent  is  epileptic  and  the  other  feeble-minded.  Of  the  55  off- 
spring who  lived  to  be  old  enough  to  classify,  28  were  epileptic,  26 
feeble-minded,  and  i  insane.  Of  the  27  matings  in  which  both 
parents  were  either  feeble-minded  or  epileptic  all  of  the  offspring 
above  14  about  whose  condition  anything  could  be  ascertained 
were  classed  as  mentally  abnormal,  43  being  epileptic,  58  feeble- 
minded, one  insane,  2  migranous,  and  8  neurotic, — certainly  a 
fearful  harvest  of  undesirable  progeny. 

Notwithstanding  the  hereditary  association  of  epilepsy  and 
feeble-mindedness,  it  cannot  be  maintained  that  these  are  heredi- 
tarily equivalent  neuroses.  Epilepsy  is  much  more  likely  to 
appear  when  one  or  both  of  the  parents  are  epileptic  than  when 
they  are  feeble-minded.  When  one  parent  was  feeble-minded, 
and  the  other  epileptic  the  proportion  of  epileptic  to  feeble- 
minded offspring  of  classifiable  age  was  28  epileptic  to  26  feeble- 
minded, whereas  when  both  parents  were  feeble  minded  the  ratio 
was  7  epileptic  to  29  feeble-minded.  And  the  latter  ratio  is 
naturally  much  higher  than  the  average,  since  only  those  families 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    43 

are  considered  in  which  there  are  some  epileptic  offspring.  In 
many  feeble  minded  stocks  the  proportion  of  epilepsy  that  ap- 
pears is  quite  small.  On  the  other  hand  most  pedigrees  which 
include  a  considerable  number  of  epileptics  contain  also  more  or 
less  feeble-mindedness. 

In  many  pedigrees  epilepsy  shows  a  marked  association  with 
other  neuropathic  traits.  As  Weeks  observes,  "That  there  are 
more  than  five  times  as  many  epileptics  as  feeble-minded  persons 
in  these  fraternities  coming  from  matings  where  neither  parent  can 
be  classed  as  normal,  or  called  mentally  defective,  seems  to  indi- 
cate that  neurotic  or  otherwise  tainted  conditions  are  more  closely 
related  to  epilepsy  than  to  feeble-mindedness." 

From  the  available  data  it  is  far  from  evident  that  epilepsy 
is  inherited  as  a  single  Mendelian  character.  "It  will  be  seen 
from  the  present  evidence,"  Weeks  admits,  "that  epilepsy  cannot 
be  considered  as  a  Mendelian  factor  when  considered  by  itself,  but 
that  epilepsy  and  feeble-mindedness  are  Mendelian  factors  of  the 
recessive  type  in  that  their  germ  cells  lack  the  determiner  for 
normality,"  however  we  are  to  imagine  such  an  entity  to  occur. 
The  statement  of  Davenport  and  Weeks  concerning  epilepsy  and 
feeble-mindedness  that  "each  is  due  to  the  absence  of  a  proto- 
plasmic factor  that  determines  complete  nervous  development," 
and  the  further  conclusion  that  "when  both  parents  are  either 
epileptic  or  feeble-minded  all  their  offspring  are  so  likewise," 
indicate  that  both  these  defects  are  due  to  the  loss  of  the  same 
factor.  If  so,  epilepsy  and  feeble-mindedness  should  be  heredi- 
tarily equivalent,  which  we  have  seen  they  are  not.  If  they 
depend  on  the  loss  of  different  factors  we  should  expect  them  to 
behave  as  independent  characters  in  which  case  it  would  be  per- 
fectly possible  for  the  mating  of  a  feeble-minded  and  an  epileptic 
to  produce  normal  children;  in  fact  we  should  expect  most 
children  to  be  normal.  Neither  of  the  authors  mentioned  seems 
to  be  sufficiently  impressed  with  the  dilemma  into  which  their 
interpretations  land  them.  There  are  indications  that  epilepsy  is 
often  recessive  and  that  it  is  frequently  inherited  in  an  alternative 
manner,  but  we  must  be  guarded  on  both  the^e  points.    Davenport 


44  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

and  Weeks  seem  to  hold  that  while  it  is  sometimes  completely 
recessive,  it  is  commonly  only  partly  so,  the  simplex  condition 
being  indicated  by  milder  forms  of  nervous  disorder.  For  these 
authors  almost  any  condition  not  quite  normal  may  be  indicative 
of  the  simplex  type  which  includes  neurotics,  criminals,  sex 
offenders,  alcoholics,  persons  suffering  from  tuberculosis,  migraine 
and  apoplexy.  In  fact  judging  from  the  variety  of  so-called 
simplex  types  scarcely  anyone  would  fail  to  qualify  for  this  dis- 
tinction. Inasmuch  as  epileptics  sometimes  come  from  parents 
classed  as  normal  the  presumption  is  that  in  some  stocks  the 
dominance  of  the  normal  condition  must  be  variable.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  some  strains  tend  to  transmit  a  more  malignant 
type  of  the  disorder  than  others.  But  we  need  more  data  on  this 
point.  Despite  the  evident  labor  involved  in  the  work  of  Daven- 
port and  Weeks  on  the  inheritance  of  epilepsy,  the  general  results 
serve  chiefly  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  very  little  is  known  about 
the  subject.  The  uncritical  way  in  which  some  of  the  work  was 
done  is  clearly  shown  by  the  severe  and  somewhat  acrimonious 
criticism  to  which  it  was  subjected  by  Heron  who  pointed  out 
numerous  inaccuracies  and  contradictions  throughout  the  original 
paper,  as  well  as  in  the  later  contribution  by  Weeks. 

The  evidence  that  epilepsy  is  transmitted  as  a  single  unit 
character  is  entirely  inadequate;  there  is  only  a  certain  presump- 
tion derived  more  from  analogy  than  the  evidence  in  hand,  that  it 
obeys  Mendel's  law;  we  are  not  clear  how  it  is  related  in  inheri- 
tance to  feeble-mindedness,  or  other  forms  of  defect.  The  evi- 
dence that  epilepsy  is  strongly  transmitted,  however,  is  quite 
conclusive,  whatever  opinions  may  be  held  as  to  its  precise  mode 
of  transmission. 

INSANITY 

For  a  long  time  it  has  been  known  that  a  proclivity  to  insanity 
may  be  inherited.  At  the  same  time  it  is  universally  conceded 
that  people  are  often  rendered  insane  through  disease,  injury  or 
severe  mental   shock.     Authorities  vary  remarkably  in   their 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    45 

estimations  of  the  percentage  of  cases  attributable  to  a  hereditary- 
diathesis.  Toulouse  {Les  Causes  de  la  Folie)  cites  a  number  of 
authorities  whose  estimates  vary  from  15.5  per  cent  to  90  per 
cent.  Some  writers  have  placed  the  percentage  of  insanity  due  to 
heredity  often  as  low  as  3  per  cent.  The  disagreements  are  about 
as  great  among  recent  writers  as  among  the  older  ones.  Tanzi 
{Mental  Diseases,  p.  61)  states  that,  "The  percentages  of  heredity 
among  the  insane  are  not  very  high.  To  succeed  in  making  them 
large,  it  is  necessary  to  take  into  account  metamorphoses  from  a 
nervous  disease,  or  even  from  any  disease,  to  a  nervous  disease,  to 
consider  anomalies  as  morbid  processes,  and  to  allow  all  cases  of 
dissimilar  heredity  to  pass  as  true  heredity."  And  after  com- 
menting on  the  difficulty  of  securing  data  on  the  remote  heredity 
of  patients,  Tanzi  concludes:  "If  all  these  reservations  be  taken 
into  consideration  we  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that,  among  the 
cases  of  insanity,  the  external  act  more  widely  than  the  internal." 
Paton  in  his  work  on  Psychiatry  tells  us:  "There  is  so  much  glib 
talk  about  the  problems  of  heredity  that  the  uninitiated  are  led  to 
believe  that  a  great  deal  is  definitely  known  regarding  the  trans- 
mission of  normal  and  abnormal  mental  traits;  indeed,  many 
alienists  fail  to  appreciate  our  limitations  in  this  respect.  At 
present  we  do  not  possess  an  accumulation  of  carefully  collected 
clinical  data  from  which  it  is  justifiable  to  draw  any  really  val- 
uable deductions,  nor  can  the  meagre  facts  recorded  in  the  aver- 
age clinical  history  be  analyzed  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  clear 
their  bearing  upon  the  biological  problems  under  discussion." 
Dr.  Maudsley,  who  has  given  the  subject  particular  attention, 
says:  "The  main  value  of  the  many  doubtful  statistics  which 
have  been  collected  by  authors  in  order  to  decide  how  large  a  part 
hereditary  taint  plays  in  the  production  of  insanity,  is  to  prove 
that  with  the  increase  of  opportunities  of  obtaining  exact  informa- 
tion the  greater  is  the  proportion  of  cases  in  which  its  influence  is 
detected ;  the  more  careful  and  exact  the  researches  the  fuller  is 
the  stream  of  hereditary  tendency  which  they  disclose.  Esquirol 
noted  it  in  150  out  of  264  cases  of  his  private  patients;  Burrows 
clearly  ascertained  that  it  existed  in  six-sevenths  of  the  whole  of 


46  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

his  patients;  on  the  other  hand,  there  have  been  some  authors  who 
have  brought  the  proportion  down  as  low  as  one-tenth.  Some 
years  ago  I  made  a  tolerably  precise  examination  of  the  family 
histories  of  50  insane  persons,  taken  without  any  selection;  there 
was  a  strongly  marked  predisposition  in  14  cases — that  is,  in  i  in 
3.57,  and  in  10  more  cases  there  was  sufficient  evidence  of  family 
degeneration  to  warrant  more  than  a  suspicion  of  inherited  fault 
of  organization.  In  about  half  the  cases  then  was  there  reason  to 
suspect  morbid  predispositions.  I  have  recently  inquired  into  the 
histories  of  50  more  cases,  all  ladies,  the  opportunities  being  such 
as  could  only  occur  in  private  medical  practice,  and  with  these 
results:  that  in  20  cases  there  was  the  distinct  history  of  heredi- 
tary predisposition;  in  13  cases  there  was  such  evidence  of  it  in 
the  features  of  the  malady  as  to  beget  the  strongest  suspicion  of 
it;  in  17  cases  there  was  no  evidence  whatever  of  it."  In  some 
cases  insane  ancestry  was  denied,  but  was  subsequently  found  to 
exist.  Dr.  Maudsley  thus  expresses  his  general  conclusion  as  to  the 
proportion  of  insanity  due  to  heredity:  "Suffice  it  to  say  broadly 
that  the  most  careful  researches  agree  to  fix  it  as  certainly  not 
lower  than  one-fourth,  probably  as  high  as  one-half,  possibly  as 
high  even  as  three-fourths."  {The  Pathology  of  the  Mind,  3d 
edition.)  Toulouse  cites  the  estimates  of  various  authors  on  the 
frequency  of  hereditary  insanity  as  follows: 

Ellis 155    per  cent. 

Morel 20 

Esquirol  (Statist,  de  Charenton) 24. 50 

Esquirol  (Statist,  de  la  maison  d'lvry) 56-81 

English  Asylum  Statistics 20 . 5 

Prussian  Asylum  Statistics 27 .  96 

Guislaid 45 

Moreau 9° 


The  following  statements  may  be  added  from  recent  authors: 
Mott,  "The  large  majority  of  the  insane  are  hereditarily  dis- 
posed." Clouston,  "An  evil  nervous  heredity  commonly  under- 
lies all  other  causes.    Without  its  existence  there  would  be  very 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    47 

little  unsoundness  of  mind  in  the  world."  Mercier  {Sanity  and 
Insanity)  "The  stability  or  instability  of  a  person's  nervous 
arrangements  depend  primarily  and  chiefly  upon  inheritance." 
Bianchi  {Textbook  of  Psychiatry),  speaking  of  epilepsy,  says 
''Heredity  plays  the  greatest  part,  and  in  most  cases  is  direct  and 
similar." 

The  great  importance  of  the  hereditary  factor  is  emphasized 
by  Heron  who  has  made  an  elaborate  statistical  study  of  the 
inheritance  of  insanity  based  on  data  supplied  by  Dr.  A.  R. 
Urquhart,  Superintendent  of  the  James  Murray's  Royal  Asylum, 
at  Perth.  "The  records  which  have  been  compiled  by  Dr. 
Urquhart  personally,"  says  Heron,  "are,  therefore,  of  great  value 
on  account  of  their  completeness,  uniformity,  and  the  long  period 
over  which  they  extend."  The  data  showed  that  where  both 
parents  of  an  insane  patient  were  sane,  the  ratio  of  the  insane  in 
all  the  offspring  was  314:1179.  With  one  parent  insane  the  off- 
spring were  93  insane:  299  sane,  and  when  both  parents  were 
insane  there  were  4  insane  and  4  sane  offspring.  Since  not  all  the 
offspring  had  reached  the  age  at  which  latent  insanity  might  be 
manifested,  it  is  obvious  that  the  relative  proportion  of  insane 
offspring  would  be  considerably  higher.  Taking  account  also  of 
data  collected  by  Pearson,  Heron  concludes  that  his  results 
"indicate  that  if  completed  histories  are  taken  40  per  cent  of 
insane  offspring  of  insane  parents  is  not  an  over-estimate,  and 
that  in  this  memoir  we  have  erred  on  the  side  of  lessening  the 
intensity  of  inheritance  in  taking  25  per  cent  of  the  offspring  of 
insane  persons  to  be  insane."  Insanity,  according  to  Heron,  is 
inherited  to  about  the  same  extent  as  stature,  intelligence,  and 
a  number  of  other  traits. 

The  way  in  which  insanity  is  transmitted  is  rather  more  difficult 
to  follow  than  the  mode  of  inheritance  of  feeble-mindedness. 
Unlike  the  latter  trait,  insanity  is  seldom  manifested  until  after 
the  period  of  adolescence,  and  very  frequently  appears  in  middle 
life  and  even  in  old  age.  This  circumstance  creates  a  difficulty  in 
the  way  of  tracing  the  operation  of  any  Mendelian  factors  which 
may  be  responsible  for  the  insane  diathesis,  since  a  considerable 


48  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

proportion  of  people  fail  to  reach  the  age  at  which  their  hereditary 
taint  might  become  manifest,  and  since  also  it  is  necessary  to 
know  the  whole  life  history  of  the  individuals  concerned. 

Another  difficulty  is  created  by  the  fact  that  insanity  may  be 
produced  by  disease,  trauma,  alcohol,  and  various  other  causes. 
As  Dr.  Mott  says,  "Acquired  syphilis,  and  in  rare  cases  congeni- 
tal syphilis,  are  now  acknowledged  to  be  the  cause  of  the  most 
terrible  fonn  of  insanity:  general  paralysis.  This  disease  is  fatal 
a  few  years  after  the  onset  of  symptoms;  heredity  plays  relatively 
an  unimportant  part  in  its  causation;  it  affects  all  classes  in  pro- 
portion to  their  liability  to  syphilitic  infection." 

The  same  authority  states  that  "the  cause  of  20  per  cent  of 
the  deaths  in  the  London  County  Asylum  is  due  to  general  paraly- 
sis," and  that  "we  might  add  another  5  to  10  per  cent  of  cases  of 
brain  disease  dying  in  asylums  with  softening  of  the  brain  due 
directly  or  indirectly  to  syphilis."  Guyer  in  speaking  of  general 
paresis  states  that  "About  twenty-two  and  five-tenths  per  cent 
of  the  first  admissions  to  hospitals  for  the  insane  from  city- 
dwelling  men,  and  eight  per  cent  from  men  living  in  the  country 
in  the  state  of  New  York  are  cases  of  this  kind  of  insanity." 

Not  to  mention  other  diseases  and  the  various  other  assignable 
reasons  why  people  become  insane,  it  is  evident  that  a  very  con- 
siderable percentage  of  the  cases  of  insanity  must  be  set  aside 
in  studying  the  role  of  heredity  in  the  causation  of  this  malady. 
Still  another  difficulty  confronts  the  student  of  heredity  in  the 
circumstance  that  a  hereditary  proclivity  to  insanity  may  be 
present,  but  owing  to  favorable  conditions  of  life  and  the  absence 
of  events  that  might  upset  an  unstable  nervous  constitution, 
a  person  may  escape  falling  a  victim  to  his  inherited  defect.  It 
is  probable  that  a  fair  proportion  of  the  hereditarily  insane  might 
have  been  saved  from  their  unfortunate  fate  had  they  been 
properly  shielded  from  adverse  influences.  According  to  many 
statistics,  alcohol  ranks  high  among  the  causes  of  insanity,  but  in 
most  cases  alcohol  may  have  afforded  the  occasion  which  led  to 
the  derangement  of  a  naturally  unstable  constitution.  There 
has  accumulated  a  great  deal  of  evidence  that  the  worst  victims  of 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    49 

alcohol  inherit  a  weak  or  neurotic  physique.  The  insanity,  there- 
fore, which  is  credited  to  the  effect  of  alcohol  is  doubtless  due  in 
many  cases  to  a  vitiated  inheritance.  But  it  is  practically  im- 
possible to  measure  the  relative  potency  of  the  hereditary  and 
environmental  factors  in  such  cases.  And  the  same  statement 
may  be  made  with  respect  to  the  insanity  attributed  to  worry, 
shock,  childbirth,  the  menopause  and  the  numerous  other  circum- 
stances that  unbalance  the  mind. 

There  are  many  forms  of  insanity  differing  greatly  in  their 
symptoms.  Melancholia  presents  a  picture  very  different  from 
acute  mania  and  dementia  praecox.  In  fact  the  ills  of  the  mind 
are  almost  as  varied  as  the  ills  of  the  body.  Like  the  latter  they 
vary  continuously  in  their  degree  of  manifestation  from  the 
minor  troubles  that  make  people  nervous,  "a,  little  queer," 
moody,  or  excitable,  to  raging  mania  or  complete  dementia.  The 
hereditary  forms,  while  naturally  less  numerous,  present  so  many 
degrees  of  manifestation  and  so  many  variations  that  a  satis- 
factory classification  is  a  matter  of  great  difificulty. 

Some  forms  of  insanity  are  closely  associated  with  other 
diseases  for  which  there  is  a  strong  heredity  proclivity.  This  is 
the  case  with  "epileptiform  insanity,"  and  to  a  less  degree  with 
"gouty  insanity,"  "phthisical  insanity,"  etc.  To  speak  of  heredi- 
tary insanity  as  a  "unit  character"  due  to  a  defect  or  loss  of  a 
single  character  in  the  germ  plasm  is  about  on  a  par  with  ascrib- 
ing all  kinds  of  heritable  physical  anomalies  to  the  same  cause. 
It  may  be  true  that  a  single  defect  in  the  germ  plasm  may  mani- 
fest itself  in  a  variety  of  ways  and  in  many  degrees.  But  analogy 
with  the  transmission  of  the  bodily  traits  should  make  us  very 
cautious  about  considering  the  insane  diathesis  as  a  unit  char- 
acter of  essentially  the  same  kind  in  the  different  cases  in  which  it 
is  manifested.  Charts  of  the  inheritance  of  insanity  show  that 
the  afflicted  individuals  exhibit  a  great  diversity  of  symptoms  in 
successive  generations.  The  possibility  must,  therefore,  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  germ  plasm  of  neurotic  stocks  may  be  affected 
in  a  variety  of  ways,  and  that  the  varied  exhibitions  of  disordered 
mentality  are  the  result,  in  part  at  least,  of  this  circumstance. 


so  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

The  first  serious  attempt  to  study  the  inheritance  of  insanity 
in  the  light  of  Mendel's  law  was  made  by  Cannon  and  Rosanofif 
who  carefully  collected  data  from  the  families  of  ii  insane  pa- 
tients in  the  Kings  Park  State  Hospital,  New  York,  The  authors 
employed  the  method  of  sending  out  field  workers  to  study  the 
families  of  the  patients,  and  they  were  thus  able  to  secure  much 
more  reUable  data  than  that  which  is  usually  collected  by  hospi- 
tals and  asylums.  It  was  concluded  that  insanity  behaves  as  a 
Mendelian  recessive  character.  The  expectations  of  this  hypoth- 
esis that  matings  of  insane  with  insane  (RR  X  RR)  would  give 
nothing  but  insane  offspring  is  quite  consistent  with  the  results. 
Out  of  three  such  matings  yielding  i6  offspring,  lo  were  neuro- 
pathic, 5  died  in  infancy,  and  data  concerning  the  remaining 
one  were  wanting. 

The  mating  of  normal  persons  heterozygous  for  neuropathic 
defect,  with  neuropathies  is  represented,  according  to  the  authors, 
"by  19  matings  with  a  total  of  129  offspring.  Theoretically 
one-half  of  these  should  be  neuropathic,  and  one-half  normal, 
but  capable  of  transmitting  the  neuropathic  make-up  to  their 
progeny.  The  charts  show:  45  neuropathic,  14  normal  with 
neuropathic  offspring,  20  normal  without  offspring,  27  normal 
with  normal  offspring,  20  died  in  childhood,  and  concerning  3 
data  were  uncertain." 

This  is  not  a  very  close  approximation  to  the  Mendelian 
expectation,  under  the  assumption  that  we  are  dealing  with 
DRXRR  matings.  Upon  what  basis  is  one  of  the  parents  con- 
sidered heterozygous  for  the  neuropathic  taint?  Evidently  the 
authors  have  counted  as  heterozygous  all  those  apparently  nor- 
mal persons  who  have  produced  neuropathic  offspring  when 
mated  with  a  neuropathic  person.  This  procedure  affords  a 
perfectly  clear  case  of  begging  the  question,  for  it  assumes  the 
truth  of  the  conclusions  to  be  established,  and  entirely  overlooks 
the  possibility  previously  pointed  out,  that  the  dominance  of  the 
normal  condition  may  be  variable  or  imperfect.  On  the  assump- 
tion of  Mendelian  inheritance  the  only  reliable  index  of  the 
heterozygous  make-up  of  the  normal  parent  is  that  one  of  the 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    51 

parents  is  a  neuropathic  person  (RR).  On  looking  through  the 
charts  I  find  that  only  three  of  the  19  cases  fulfill  this  condition. 
If  one  of  the  parents  has  a  brother,  sister  or  other  near  relative 
who  is  neuropathic,  the  assumption  that  this  parent  is  heterozy- 
gous is  only  probable.  In  going  over  the  charts  for  cases  of  this 
kind  I  find  a  record  in  the  alleged  DRXRR  matings  of  only  five 
instances.  In  all  the  other  cases  the  conclusion  is  apparently 
based  on  no  evidence  at  all  beyond  the  fact  that  it  is  necessary  to 
assume  it  in  order  to  make  the  facts  come  out  in  accordance  with 
the  hypothesis. 

The  third  class  of  cases  discussed,  the  matings  of  a  homozygous 
normal  with  a  double  recessive,  DD  XRR  is  represented  according 
to  the  authors,  by  "five  matings  with  a  total  of  18  offspring. 
Theoretically  all  the  offspring  of  such  matings  should  be  normal, 
but  capable  of  transmitting  the  neuropathic  make-up  to  their 
progeny.  The  charts  show :  8  normal  with  neuropathic  offspring, 
7  normal  with  normal  offspring,  2  normal  without  offspring,  and 
I  died  in  childhood."  The  assumption  that  one  parent  is  a 
homozygous  dominant  is  naturally  somewhat  unsafe.  From  the 
nature  of  the  case  we  can  never  know  that  this  is  correct,  but 
from  what  has  just  been  quoted  it  may  be  inferred  that  this 
assumption  is  made  because  all  the  children  are  normal,  and  some 
of  the  grandchildren  neuropathic.  Of  course  some  of  these  cases 
cited  may  have  been  DRXRR  matings  which  happened  to  have 
only  normal  (DR)  children.  What  the  authors  have  done  is  to 
divide  up  the  cases  in  which  normal  and  neuropathic  mate  into 
DD  X  RR  and  DR  X  RR  in  such  a  way  as  to  best  make  the  results 
fall  into  line  with  the  theoretical  expectations.  That  other 
interpretations  are  not  improbable  is  evident  from  what  has 
previously  been  said. 

The  alleged  DRXDR  matings  turn  out  more  in  accordance 
with  expectations  since  seven  matings  with  54  offspring  yielded 
12  neuropathic,  and  34  normal  individuals,  and  8  who  died  in 
childhood. 

A  subsequent  paper  by  Rosanoff  and  Orr  deals  in  much  the 
same  way  with  a  larger  amount  of  data,  represented  by  73  pedi- 


52  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

grees  including  206  matings  and  1097  offspring.  The  same  con- 
clusions are  expressed  as  to  Mendelian  inheritance  of  insanity. 
The  authors  recognize  that  while  neuropathic  traits  are  recessive, 
"various  clinical  neuropathic  manifestations  bear  to  one  another 
the  relationship  of  traits  of  various  degrees  of  recessiveness;  in  a 
most  marked  way  recoverable  psychoses,  though  recessive  as 
compared  with  the  normal  condition,  are  dominant  over  epilepsy 
or  allied  disorders." 

Traits  on  the  same  level  of  recessiveness,  but  differing  greatly 
in  their  clinical  manifestations  may  bear  to  one  another  the  rela- 
tionship of  "neuropathic  equivalents."  This,  if  true,  makes 
Mendelian  formulae  more  elastic,  but  it  increases  the  difl&culty  of 
proving  that  the  inheritance  is,  in  fact,  Mendelian. 

The  authors  show  a  commendable  caution  about  concluding 
that  the  inheritance  of  insanity  follows  simple  Mendelian  rules. 
They  say,  "It  seems  necessary  to  assume  that  the  normal  devel- 
opment and  function  of  the  nervous  system  is  dependent  not  upon 
a  single  unit  determinant  in  the  germ  plasm,  but  upon  a  group  of 
determinants,  and  that  the  number  of  units  lacking  from  that 
group,  determines  the  special  t^^pe  of  defect  to  be  observed 
clinically.  It  may  be  recalled  that  a  similar  assumption  has  been 
found  necessary  for  the  understanding  of  the  inheritance  of  other 
Mendelian  characters,  notably  various  shades  of  skin  pigmenta- 
tion." 

With  commenting  on  the  fact  that  it  is  not  proven  that  the 
inheritance  of  skin  color  is  Mendelian,  although  it  is  possible 
on  certain  assumptions  to  show  how  it  might  be  so,  or  at  least 
that  it  is  not  certain  that  it  is  not  so,  there  seems  to  be  no  special 
reason  for  the  particular  conclusion,  "That  the  number  of  units 
lacking  from  the  germ  plasm  determines  the  special  type  of  defect 
to  be  observed  clinically."  Analogy  with  Mendelian  inheritance 
elsewhere  would  seem  to  make  it  more  probable  that  the  type  of 
defect  produced  would  depend  upon  the  particular  units  of  the 
germ  plasm  affected,  and  not  merely  upon  their  number.  Perhaps 
the  authors,  who  manifest  an  open-minded  and  candid  attitude 
in  dealing  with  the  problem,  would  not  object  to  this  interpreta- 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    53 

tion.  It  certainly  seems  remarkable  that  many  kinds  of  germinal 
defect  would  give  rise  to  the  same  sort  of  neuropathic  disorder. 
If  so,  one  person  might  lack  something  necessary  to  normality 
and  another  person  might  lack  something  else,  and  yet  the  union 
of  these  persons  might  supply  all  that  was  needed  to  make  a 
normal  product.  This  would  be  clearly  possible  if  the  defects  in 
question  were  completely  recessive.  One  might  expect,  therefore, 
in  view  of  the  varied  nature  of  hereditary  insanity,  that  two 
insane,  or  at  least  two  neuropathic  persons  might  occasionally,  if 
not  frequently,  produce  a  normal  individual.  The  probability  of 
such  an  occurrence  would  obviously  depend  upon  the  number  of 
affected  units  in  the  germ  plasm  of  the  two  persons,  and  the 
genetic  similarity  of  the  two  types  of  hereditary  defect.  It  would 
be  of  especial  interest  to  compare  the  matings  of  similar  neuro- 
pathic defectives  on  the  one  hand  and  dissimilar  types  on  the 
other.  Whether  or  not  the  latter  types  especially  may  not  yield 
normal  offspring  we  are  not  at  present  sufficiently  assured.  Mat- 
ings of  neuropathic  and  neuropathic,  it  is  true,  will  produce  a 
large  proportion  of  neuropathic  offspring.  In  the  three  cases  of 
this  kind  given  by  Cannon  and  Rosanoff  the  parents  were  simply 
designated  neuropathic,  a  term  used  to  cover  hysteria,  feeble- 
mindedness, epilepsy,  convulsions  or  other  pronounced  manifes- 
tations, and  the  children  of  these  matings  which  were  all  marked 
neuropathic  showed  insanity,  epilepsy,  convulsions  and  neuro- 
pathic states  not  further  specified.  In  a  paper  by  Rosanoff  and 
Orr  17  such  matings  are  recorded,  resulting  in  75  children  of  whom 
II  died,  in  infancy,  54  of  the  remaining  64  are  given  as  "neuro- 
pathic," 10  being  designated  normal.  In  these  10  the  authors 
state  that  in  2  cases  "  the  neuropathic  constitution  is  not  insan- 
ity," and  that  the  8  others  "have  not  reached  the  age  of  in- 
cidence." 

There  are  several  cases  in  which  insane  parents  have  been 
reported  to  have  produced  sane  offspring.  Pearson's  family 
records  give  66  per  cent,  insane  offspring  when  both  parents  are 
insane.  Only  those  children  were  classed  as  sane  who  reached  an 
age  of  50  years  without  developing  insanity.   Acquired  insanity  of 


54  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

the  parents  was  not  excluded  in  the  statistics  and  the  "sane" 
offspring  may  have  been  neuropathic  in  other  ways. 

Heron's  data  on  this  point  are  meagre  and  do  not  furnish 
information  as  to  the  age  of  the  sane  offspring,  so  it  is  not  certain 
that  they  reached  the  period  at  which  insanity  would  be  devel- 
oped. Goring  gives  three  ma  tings  between  insane  parents,  with 
19  offspring,  all  sane,  but  we  know  little  of  their  age  beyond  the 
fact  that  they  were  convicts. 

Several  writers  have  brought  forward  evidence  that  particular 
types  of  insanity  tend  to  run  in  families.  Berze  reports  a  case 
of  dementia  prascox  in  a  father  and  three  sons;  a  case  of  a  man, 
his  daughter  and  her  two  children  and  several  other  instances  with 
two  or  more  in  each  family.  Dr.  Schuster  from  a  statistical 
investigation  of  cases  in  the  London  County  Asylums  concludes 
that  "a  periodically  insane  son  or  daughter  is  more  likely  to  be 
associated  with  a  periodically  insane  mother  or  father  than  with 
one  differently  affected,"  and  a  similar  association  occurs  between 
insane  brothers  and  sisters.  In  delusional  insanity  "The  tend- 
ency for  the  affliction  to  run  in  families  is  very  marked"  and  "in 
the  incidence  of  the  primary  dementia  of  adolescence  there  is  a 
strong  correlation  between  members  of  the  same  co-fraternity." 

Strohmayer  finds  that  manic-depressive  insanity  frequently 
reappears  in  much  the  same  form.  "Es  gibt  kaum  ein  Krank- 
heitsbild,  wo  so  einmutig  die  Macht  des  Erbfaktors  anerkannt 
wird,  wie  beim  manisch-depressiven  Irresein.  Alle  Autoren  heben 
den  auffallend  grossen  Prozentsatz  des  durch  Geisteskrankheit 
direkt  oder  indirekt  belasteten  Kranken  dieses  Schlages  hervor. 
Die  Angaben  schwanken  zwischen  75  und  85%.  Ebenso  stim- 
men  alle  Beobachter  darin  iiberein,  das  innerhalb  des  manisch- 
depressiven  Gebeites  die  gleichartige  verbliiffend  iiberweigt." 

Many  alienists  from  Morel  to  the  present  time  have  empha- 
sized the  extreme  variability  of  the  manifestations  of  mental 
defect  and  disease,  and  have  found  little  tendency  for  the  same 
type  of  insanity  to  repeat  itself  in  successive  generations.  That 
particular  forms  of  insanity  are  rarely  transmitted  as  such  is  a 
doctrine  which  has  been  rather  more  frequently  espoused  in 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    55 

France  than  elsewhere,  while  in  Germany,  especially  in  the  last 
two  decades,  the  belief  in  a  greater  fidelity  of  transmission  has 
become  somewhat  more  prevalent.  The  diverse  results  obtained 
by  different  investigators  on  this  question  are  in  part  due  to 
different  categories  of  classification  adopted.  It  is  generally 
recognized  that  a  satisfactory  classification  of  the  varied  forms  of 
insanity  has  not  yet  been  attained.  In  addition  to  a  few  broad 
types  of  insanity  that  are  generally  recognized  there  are  so  many 
cases  whose  grouping  is  at  present  an  arbitrary  proceeding  that  a 
certain  amount  of  disagreement  among  different  investigators  is 
inevitable.  However,  with  a  closer  study  of  symptoms  and  a 
more  careful  comparison  of  the  insane  who  are  members  of  the 
same  family  it  is  coming  to  be  recognized  by  an  increasing  num- 
ber of  writers  of  all  countries  that  there  are  some  types  of  insanity 
which  show  a  fair  amount  of  constancy  in  their  mode  of  trans- 
mission. This  is  in  part  due  to  the  elimination  in  such  studies  of 
cases  which  are  caused  by  external  factors,  such  as  s3qDhilis,  which 
is  now  known  to  be  responsible  for  general  paresis  and  a  number 
of  cases  of  insanity  manifested  in  other  ways. 

Apparently;  therefore,  along  with  a  considerable  range  in  the 
manifestation  of  "neuropathic  equivalents"  there  is  a  certain 
tendency  for  special  types  of  mental  disorder  to  perpetuate  them- 
selves.^ It  is  a  matter  of  great  difficulty  to  determine  how  far 
different  people  with  the  same  inheritance  of  neuropathic  traits 
might  come  to  differ  in  their  symptoms.  It  is  unfortunate  that 
identical  twins  are  not  more  common,  since  observation  on  a 
number  of  such  twins  with  a  neuropathic  inheritance  would 
throw  much  light  on  this  problem. 

There  are  a  few  cases  of  very  similar  types  of  insanity  recorded 
in  twins  who  were  apparently  identical  (See  Galton's  Inquiries 

^  Among  those  who  have  emphasized  the  predominance  of  "similar"  heredity  are 
Griesinger,  Ziehen,  Albrecht,  Sioli,  Harbolla,  Vorster,  Schlub,  Damkohler,  Forster, 
Kreichgauer,  Jolly,  Pilcz,  Berze,  Myerson,  Frankhauser.  Of  those  holding  to  the 
predominance  of  "dissimilar"  heredity  may  be  mentioned  Ribot,  Demay, 
Urquhart,  Schiile,  Krafft-Ebing,  Kraepelin  (in  earUer  writings),  Salgo,  Leidesdorff, 
Moebius,  Jung,  Elbe,  Grassmann,  Krause,  Lundborg,  Liepmann,  Bing,  Krause, 
Croq,  Dejerine,  Bumke. 


56  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

into  Human  Faculty) .  One  case  of  two  twin  brothers  reported  by 
Dr.  Moreau  is  sufficiently  striking  to  deserve  quotation:  "Physi- 
cally the  two  young  men  are  so  nearly  alike  that  the. one  is 
easily  mistaken  for  the  other.  Morally,  their  resemblance  is  no 
less  complete  and  is  most  remarkable  in  its  details.  Thus,  their 
dominant  ideas  are  absolutely  the  same.  They  both  consider 
themselves  subject  to  imaginary  persecutions;  the  same  enemies 
have  sworn  their  destruction,  and  employ  the  same  means  to 
effect  it.  Both  have  hallucinations  of  hearing.  They  are  both  of 
them  melancholy  and  morose;  they  never  address  a  word  to  any- 
body, and  will  hardly  answer  the  questions  that  others  address  to 
them.  They  always  keep  apart,  and  never  communicate  with  one 
another.  An  extremely  curious  fact  which  has  frequently  been 
noted  by  the  superintendents  of  their  section  of  the  hospital  and 
myself  is  this :  From  time  to  time,  at  very  irregular  intervals  of 
two,  three,  and  many  months,  without  appreciable  cause,  and  by 
the  purely  spontaneous  effect  of  their  illness,  a  very  marked 
change  takes  place  in  the  condition  of  the  two  brothers.  Both  of 
them,  at  the  same  time,  and  often  on  the  same  day,  rouse  them- 
selves from  their  habitual  stupor  and  prostration;  they  make  the 
same  complaints,  and  they  come  of  their  own  accord  to  the  physi- 
cian, with  an  urgent  request  to  be  liberated.  I  have  seen  this 
strange  thing  occur,  even  when  they  were  some  miles  apart,  the 
one  being  at  Bicetre,  and  the  other  living  at  Saint-Anne."^ 

According  to  Schlub  three-fourths  of  the  cases  of  insanity 
occurring  in  siblings  is  of  the  same  type.    The  percentages  of  like 

^  Bajenoff  (Quelques  reflections  sur  les  folies  gemellaires  et  familiales,  Arch, 
internal,  de  Neur.,  ii,  s.  I.  213-218,  1913),  cites  a  number  of  cases  of  similar  in- 
sanity in  twins;  in  one  case  reported  by  Harandon  de  Montyel  two  twin  girls, 
apparently  identical,  were  married  on  the  same  day  and  became  pregnant  at  about 
the  same  time.  Both  were  taken  with  deUrium  in  early  pregnancy  and  were  con- 
fined separately  in  the  same  asylum  without  either  being  apprised  of  the  condition 
of  the  other.  Their  insanities  were  pronounced  "absolutely  identical";  their 
hallucinations  were  much  the  same  and  their  spells  occurred  at  the  same  time. 
They  were  delivered  within  48  hours  of  each  other  and  soon  afterward  the  insanity 
in  both  subsided.  Schultes  (Ueber  ZwiUingspsychosen,  Allg.  Zeit.f.  Psychiai.,  IQ13, 
348-364),  reports  on  five  cases  of  insanity  in  twins;  four  of  these  which  were  very 
similar  twins  showed  the  same  types  of  insanity. 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE     57 

forms  of  insanity  was  found  to  be  higher  (90  per  cent)  among 
brothers  than  among  sisters  (70  per  cent)  or  between  brother 
and  sister  (68  per  cent).  Where  insanity  occurred  in  twins  it  was 
of  the  same  type  whether  the  twins  were  of  the  same  sex  or  not. 
{Zeit.f.  Psychiat.  66,  514-541,  1909).  Similar  findings  have  been 
recorded  by  H.  Krueger  {Zeit.  /.  d.  gesamte  Neurol,  u.  Psychiat. 
24,  113,  1914). 

Is  insanity  transmitted  as  a  typically  recessive  trait?  In 
Huntington's  chorea  it  is  generally  conceded  that  we  have  a 
character  that  usually  behaves  as  a  typical  dominant.  But  most 
of  the  writers  who  have  considered  insanity  from  the  Mendelian 
standpoint  conclude,  often  in  a  guarded  and  tentative  manner, 
that  most  forms  are  recessive.  One  fact  that  on  the  face  of  it 
indicates  that  such  is  the  case  is  that  insanity  and  other  neuroses 
frequently  arise  in  families  in  which  the  parents  are  normal  or 
slightly  neuropathic,  and  that  the  frequency  of  such  cases  is 
increased  when  the  presence  of  insane  or  neuropathic  relatives 
points  to  the  heterozygous  constitution  of  the  parents.  When, 
however,  we  are  dealing  with  a  character  so  protean  as  the 
"neuropathic  constitution"  is  commonly  assumed  to  be,  this 
evidence  becomes  somewhat  less  convincing. 

The  neuropathic  constitution  may  take  a  relatively  mild  form 
in  the  parents  in  which  it  escapes  being  recognized,  while  in  the 
offspring  it  may  take  the  form  of  insanity.  A  trait  essentially 
dominant  will,  if  highly  variable  in  its  manifestations  and  es- 
pecially if  the  degree  of  its  manifestation  is  largely  dependent 
upon  environmental  factors,  closely  simulate  a  recessive  trait  in 
its  mode  of  occurrence. 

To  speak  of  insanity  as  a  defect  and  as,  therefore,  due  to  the 
loss  of  one  or  more  determiners  in  the  germ  plasm  is  misleading. 
Properly,  in  our  view,  it  is  neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  It 
is  more  probable  that  the  hereditary  basis  of  insanity  is  something 
positive,  a  definite  pathological  factor  or  factors  working  havoc 
with  the  normal  development  of  the  organism,  and  which  may  be 
kept  from  exercising  to  the  full  its  deteriorating  effects  by  an 
admixture  of  healthy  germ  plasm.    How  far  insanity  is  the  prod- 


$8  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

uct  of  specific  neurotoxins,  it  is  at  present  impossible  to  say. 
There  is  little  in  the  symptoms  of  insanity  that  would  lead  us  to 
conclude  that  it  is  the  expression  of  mere  weakness  or  lack  of 
something,  any  more  than  is  rheumatism  or  the  gout. 

It  is  one  of  the  unfortunate  influences  of  the  presence-absence 
theory  that  it  leads  people  to  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  traits 
may  be  due  to  absences  and  hence  recessive  when  there  is  no  clear 
evidence  of  this  from  the  facts  in  hand.  Imperfect  dominance  is 
sufficiently  plentiful  among  organisms  in  general  to  make  us 
expect  it  more  or  less  frequently  in  the  inheritance  of  neuropathic 
traits.  Davenport  and  Weeks,  as  we  have  seen,  conclude  that  it 
occurs  in  the  transmission  of  epilepsy  and  related  neuroses.  An 
examination  of  the  charts  in  Rosanoff  and  Orr's  paper  on  the 
inheritance  of  insanity  shows  that  all  the  facts  may  plausibly  be 
interpreted  according  to  the  same  hypothesis.  The  frequency 
with  which  the  matings  of  normal  and  neuropathic  parents 
produce  neuropathic  offspring  is  rather  better  in  accord  with  this 
view.  On  the  assumption  of  complete  recessiveness  Rosanoff  and 
Orr  are  led  to  the  view  that  over  3 1  per  cent  of  apparently  normal 
people  are  carriers  of  neuropathic  defect.  In  most  of  the  cases 
given  by  Rosanoff  and  Orr  where  the  mating  of  a  normal  and  a 
neuropathic  resulted  in  neuropathic  offspring,  it  was  not  possible 
to  show  that  the  normal  parent  was  in  fact  heterozygous;  he  was 
simply  assumed  to  be  so  on  account  of  the  character  of  the  off- 
spring. It  is  evident  that  if  neuropathic  traits  are  imperfectly 
dominant,  or  not  completely  recessive  (which  is  the  same  thing) 
it  is  not  necessary  to  assume  that  the  heterozygous  condition  is 
nearly  so  prevalent.  Matings  of  apparently  normal  stock  with 
one  that  is  neuropathic  are  so  often  followed  by  unfortunate 
results  that  one  is  naturally  led  to  suspect  that  a  partial  blending 
or  direct  contamination,  is  a  phenomen  of  common  occurrence. 


THE  ALLEGED  PRINCIPLE  OF  "ANTEDATING"    OR  "ANTICIPATION" 

Dr.  F.  W.  Mott  has  pointed  out  what  he  considers  to  be  a 
principle    of    general    application    in    neuropathic    inheritance, 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    59 

namely,  the  so-called  process  of  "antedating"  or  "anticipation." 
"I  have  found,"  he  says,  "that  there  is  a  signal  tendency  in  the 
insane  offspring  of  insane  parents  for  the  insanity  to  occur  at 
an  earlier  age  and  in  a  more  intense  form  in  a  large  proportion 
of  cases;  for  the  form  of  insanity  is  usually  either  congenital 
imbecility  or  the  primary  dementia  of  adolescence,  which  gen- 
erally is  an  incurable  disease."  The  consequence  of  this  alleged 
tendency  is  that,  with  increasing  age,  the  offspring  of  insane 
parents  become  less  liable  to  insanity.  "Besides  the  fact," 
continues  Dr.  Mott,  "that  this  shows  Nature's  method  of  elimi- 
nating unsound  elements  of  a  stock,  it  has  another  important 
bearing,  for  it  shows  that  after  the  age  of  twenty-five  there  is  a 
greatly  decreasing  liability  of  the  offspring  of  insane  parents  to 
become  insane,  and  therefore  on  the  question  of  advising  marriage 
of  the  offspring  of  an  insane  parent  this  is  of  great  importance. 
Sir  George  Savage  recently  said  in  his  presidential  address  that 
this  statistical  proof  of  mine  accorded  with  his  own  experience, 
and  that  if  an  individual  who  had  such  an  hereditary  taint  had 
passed  the  age  of  twenty-five,  and  never  previously  shown  any 
signs,  he  would  probably  be  free,  and  he  would  offer  no  objection 
to  marriage." 

If  on  the  basis  of  the  principle  of  anticipation  advice  is  to  be 
given  on  the  subject  of  marriage,  it  is  well  to  be  assured  that 
the  principle  rests  upon  a  firm  foundation.  Dr.  Mott  arrived  at 
his  conclusion  in  the  following  way :  He  examined  the  age  at  the 
time  of  the  first  attack  of  insanity  of  508  pairs  of  parents  and  off- 
spring. In  47.8  per  cent  of  the  offspring  the  first  attack  occurred 
before  the  age  of  twenty-five.  "In  299,  or  58.8  per  cent,  of  the 
508  pairs  of  insane  parents  and  offspring,  the  first  attack  in  the 
offspring  occurred  at  an  age  twenty  or  more  years  earlier  than 
in  the  parents;  of  these  299  instances  73  of  the  offspring  were 
imbeciles." 

Professor  Karl  Pearson  in  a  letter  written  to  Nature  (Nov,  21, 
191 2)  showed  that  Mott's  principle  of  anticipation  involved  a 
statistical  fallacy.  It  was  pointed  out  that  a  man  or  woman  who 
develops  insanity  at  an  early  age  is  not  so  likely  to  become  a 


6o         •  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

parent  as  one  who  becomes  insane  at  a  later  age.  The  parents, 
therefore,  would  constitute  a  group  selected  on  the  basis  of  age. 
More  detailed  criticism  of  "antedating"  was  made  by  Heron 
{Biometrica,  lo,  p.  356)  who  showed  that  Mott's  data  made  no 
allowance  for  the  probability  that  many  of  the  normal  siblings  of 
the  insane  offspring  of  insane  parents  might  subsequently  develop 
insanity.  Also  the  fact  that  parents  and  offspring  who  happen 
to  be  insane  at  nearly  the  same  time  would  be  apt  to  be  in  the 
same  asylum  introduces  a  third  source  of  error,  because  in  such  a 
case  we  should  be  apt  to  find  insanity  developing  late  in  the  par- 
ents and  early  in  the  offspring.  Considering  all  these  statistical 
fallacies  involved,  the  principle  of  anticipation  cannot  present 
much  claim  to  acceptance.  It  would  indeed  be  unfortunate  if 
advice  concerning  marriage  should  be  given  on  the  basis  of  so 
questionable  a  generalization. 

SHOULD  STRENGTH  MATE  WITH  WEAKNESS? 

In  Bulletin  No.  9  of  the  Eugenics  Record  Office  the  statement 
is  made  that  the  "proper  mating"  of  a  neuropathic  person  "is 
with  a  person  in  whose  ancestry  there  is  no  trace  of  neuropathic 
ancestry,"  and  that  "if  only  the  matings  be  carefully  made  so 
that  the  immediate  children  of  the  neuropathic  person  shall  avoid 
marrying  a  consort  with  a  neuropathic  taint,  there  will  be  no 
neuropathic  children  or  grandchildren,  and  hardly  a  greater 
chance  of  neuropathic  great-grandchildren  than  though  the 
marriage  in  question  had  not  been  made."  "The  case  may  well 
arise,"  Dr.  Davenport  continues,  .  .  .  "where  a  mentally  vigo- 
rous man  wishes  to  marry  a  socially  attractive  and  beautiful, 
though  defective,  woman.  Such  a  marriage  may  be,  from  the 
standpoint  of  Eugenics,  as  from  any  social  viewpoint,  quite  per- 
missible." And  in  speaking  of  the  marriage  of  epileptics,  it  is 
further  stated  that  "there  may  arise  cases  where  the  marriage  of 
an  epileptic  to  a  person  of  mentally  untainted  stock  would  be,  on 
the  whole,  desirable." 

The  advice  that  strength  may  mate  with  weakness  has  been 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    6i 

severely  criticized,  and  justly  so,  by  Pearson,  Heron,  Saleeby, 
and  others.  Granting  that  mental  defect  is  transmitted  as  a 
single  recessive  unit  character,  the  mating  of  a  duplex  normal 
with  a  defective,  while  producing  normal  children,  nevertheless 
makes  them  carriers  of  the  defect.  Should  two  such  carriers  mate, 
one-fourth  of  their  offspring  would  manifest  the  defect;  should  the 
carriers  follow  the  "eugenic  rule"  and  mate  with  defectives,  half 
of  their  offspring  would  be  defective.  Matings  of  normal  and 
defective  simply  sow  the  seed  for  future  trouble.  Should  the 
estimate  of  some  of  the  workers  of  the  Eugenics  Record  Office 
prove  correct,  namely,  that  over  30  per  cent  of  the  population  is 
heterozygous  for  mental  defect,  the  direct  danger  of  such  matings 
is  very  considerable.  Certain  defects  are  distributed  widely 
enough  as  it  is,  without  our  advising  marriages  that  would  simply 
make  the  situation  worse.  Nothing  could  be  more  inconsistent 
with  everything  we  know  of  heredity  than  the  ill-considered 
advice  that  strength  may  mate  with  weakness. 

And  besides  we  have  very  little  assurance  that  the  normal 
condition  dominates  mental  defectiveness  to  the  extent  that  is 
usually  assumed.  I  have  been  continually  surprised  in  reading 
papers  on  the  Mendelian  inheritance  of  mental  defect  to  find  how 
placidly  and  uncritically  the  assumption  is  made  that  normal 
mentality  behaves  as  a  typical  dominant.  It  does  not  seem  to 
occur  to  most  of  those  who  have  treated  the  subject  that  the 
children  of  a  mental  defective  are  apt  to  be  severely  injured  by 
the  incompletely  suppressed  traits  of  that  parent,  however  free 
from  taint  the  ancestry  of  the  other  parent  may  have  been.  And 
this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  MendeHan  Uterature  is  full  of  cases 
of  incomplete  and  variable  dominance!  Surely  from  the  facts 
at  our  disposal  no  one  is  justified  in  feeHng  very  confident  of 
the  complete  dominance  of  mental  normality.  The  injury  result- 
ing from  the  mating  of  mental  soundness  with  mental  weakness 
may  be  very  direct,  manifesting  itself  in  the  production  of  chil- 
dren mentally  inferior  or  suffering  from  various  neuropathic 
taints.  It  is  not  at  all  unlikely  that  many  of  them  would  actually 
be  ranked  as  mental  defectives  or  be  caused  by  untoward  circum- 


62  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

stances  to  fall  victims  to  insanity.  Not  improbably  the  very 
large  number  of  cases  in  which  the  mating  of  normal  and 
feeble-minded  produce  children  of  the  latter  class  are  due  not  so 
much  to  the  heterozygous  character  of  the  putative  normals  as  to 
partial  blending,  or  irregular  and  incomplete  dominance.  As  our 
previous  discussion  has  shown,  where  one  parent  is  feeble-minded 
or  insane,  and  the  other  normal,  it  is  quite  exceptional  for  all  the 
children  to  be  free  from  the  mental  taint  of  the  aflOicted  parent. 

SYPHILIS  AND  MENTAL  DEFECT 

The  role  of  syphilis  in  the  causation  of  feeble-mindedness, 
epilepsy,  and  other  forms  of  mental  defect  is  still  uncertain, 
despite  a  considerable  amount  of  investigation  devoted  to  the 
subject.  Formerly  s}^hilis  was  not  considered  to  be  accountable 
for  a  large  percentage  of  mental  defect,  because  only  a  small 
proportion  of  defectives  were  found  to  manifest  any  obvious  signs 
of  the  disease.  Since  the  discovery  of  the  Wassermann  and  other 
tests  it  has  been  possible  to  detect  syphilitic  mfection  in  numerous 
cases  in  which  the  disease  was  not  revealed  by  any  external 
symptoms.  The  Wassermann  test,  however,  is  apt  to  give  very 
different  results  according  to  the  particular  way  in  which  it  is 
carried  out.  It  is  agreed  that  the  absence  of  the  positive  Wasser- 
mann does  not  necessarily  indicate  the  absence  of  syphilis,  but  a 
positive  test  except  in  the  presence  of  a  few  other  diseases  or 
unusual  conditions  is  held  to  constitute  a  strong  proof  that 
syphilis  is  present.  Applications  of  the  Wassermann  tests  to 
mental  defectives  have  yielded  surprisingly  discrepant  results. 
Goddard,  in  his  work  on  feeble-mindedness,  states  that  less  than 
I  per  cent  show  syphilitic  infection.  Thomson,  Boas,  Hjort 
and  Leschly  in  studying  2,061  mental  defectives  found  that  only 
1.5  per  cent  gave  a  positive  Wassermann  reaction.  Lippmann 
found  9  per  cent  of  positive  reactions  in  one  asylum,  and  13  per 
cent  in  another.  Dean  found  that  out  of  330  idiots  of  various 
ages  in  Potsdam  15  per  cent  were  syphilitic.  Krober  obtained 
positive  results  in  21.4  per  cent  of  262  idiots.^ 

^  Reference  may  also  be  made  to  the  work  of  Atwood  and  Brofenbrenner  who  by 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE     63 

One  of  the  highest  percentages  of  positive  reactions  was  found 
by  Fraser  and  Watson.  These  workers  not  only  applied  the  test 
in  a  thorough  manner,  but  they  studied  the  family  history  of 
the  patients,  and  applied  the  Wassermann  test  also  to  other 
members  of  the  family.  Dr.  Fraser  examined  the  blood  sera  of  99 
mentally  defective  and  epileptic  children.  Excluding  10  cases  of 
epilepsy  where  no  apparent  mental  defect  existed,  and  "consider- 
ing only  the  89  cases  where  defect  was  present,  it  was  found  that 
40  gave  a  positive  reaction,  or  44.9  per  cent.;  t^S  gave  a  negative 
reaction,  or  42.4  per  cent.;  and  11  gave  a  doubtful  reaction,  or 
12.3  per  cent." 

In  several  cases  in  which  the  child  gave  a  negative  or  doubt- 
ful reaction  it  was  found  that  a  positive  Wassermann  could  be 
obtained  from  some  other  member  of  the  same  family,  thus 
affording  evidence  that  syphilitic  infection  was  or  had  been 
present  in  the  child  examined.  Considering  all  the  evidence  in 
hand  it  is  probable  that  the  percentage  of  syphilitic  infection 
was  over  57  per  cent. 

An  examination  by  Dr.  Watson  of  the  blood  serum  of  105  cases 
of  mental  deficiency,  mainly  feeble-mindedness,  of  varying  ages 
up  to  17  years  showed  that  51  gave  a  positive  reaction,  45  gave  a 
negative  reaction,  and  9  were  doubtful.  As  several  of  the  negative 
or  doubtful  cases  had  relatives  that  gave  a  positive  reaction,  it 
is  probable  that  the  percentage  of  syphilis  in  Dr.  Watson's  group 
of  defectives  was  over  50  per  cent.  "On  grouping  the  defective 
and  epileptic  children  together,  it  is  found  that  of  the  205  cases 
examined  syphilitic  infection  is  present  in  126  or  60  per  cent." 

Should  syphilis  be  found  to  play  so  large  a  part  in  the  pro- 
using  the  Noguchi  system  in  the  examination  of  204  idiots  found  14.7  per  cent 
that  gave  a  positive  reaction.  Raviart,  Breton  and  Petit  in  examining  various 
cases  of  mental  defect  aside  from  parasyphilitic  cases  obtained  positive  reactions  in 
30  to  40  per  cent  of  all  cases  of  idiocy,  epilepsy  and  imbecility.  A  high  proportion 
of  positive  cases  was  found  in  various  forms  of  insanity  by  Rosanoff,  Wiseman  and 
Noguchi.  (See  Noguchi,  Scrum  Diagnosis  attd  Luctin  Reaction,  Philadelphia,  191 2.) 
Kaplan  {Serology  of  Nervous  Diseases,  19 14),  found  a  positive  Wassermann  in  4 
out  of  38  epileptics  and  a  negative  reaction  in  most  cases  of  dementia  praecox  and 
manic-depressive  insanity,  and  he  emphasizes  the  danger  of  reporting  too  many 
cases  of  a  positive  reaction. 


64  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

duction  of  mental  defect  as  the  researches  of  Fraser  and  Watson 
indicate,  it  would  necessitate  considerable  modification  of  the 
views  that  have  been  expressed  regarding  the  so-called  MendeHan 
transmission  of  epilepsy  and  feeble-mindedness.  Very  many  of 
the  charts  picturing  such  inheritance  are  quite  consistent  with 
the  hypothesis  that  we  are  dealing  with  the  transmission  of  an 
infection  which  produces  effects  of  various  degrees  of  severity. 
Where  both  parents  are  infected  we  should  expect  that  the  chil- 
dren would  be  severely  afiQicted.  The  matings  of  normal  and 
defective,  however,  do  not  turn  out  quite  as  we  should  expect  on 
the  theory  of  infection.  It  is  highly  desirable  that  future  studies 
of  the  inheritance  of  mental  defect  may  make  use  of  thorough 
tests  to  eliminate  the  possibly  very  large  factor  of  syphilis.  This 
has  not  been  done  in  any  of  the  work  published  by  the  Eugenics 
Record  Office,  and  it  remains  to  be  seen  what  basis  will  be  left  for 
the  various  laws  that  have  been  laid  down  for  the  inheritance  of 
mental  defect  when  this  precaution  has  been  taken. 

THE  NOTION  OF  DEGENERACY 

Since  Morel  published  his  celebrated  treatise  on  Degeneracy  in 
1857,  it  has  been  a  prevalent  idea  that  many  forms  of  defect  and 
disorder  are  not  transmitted  as  such,  but  may  give  place  in  the 
descendants  to  abnormalities  of  the  most  varied  kind.  What  is 
transmitted  is  held  to  be  a  degenerate  constitution  which  may  be 
manifested  in  diverse  ways  according  to  circumstances.  "He- 
redity," says  Morel,  "does  not  mean  the  very  disorders  of  the 
parents  transmitted  to  the  children  with  the  identical  mental  and 
physical  symptoms  observed  in  the  progenitors.  It  means  trans- 
mission of  organic  dispositions  from  parents  to  children.  Alien- 
ists have,  perhaps,  more  frequent  occasion  than  others  for  ob- 
serving not  merely  this  heredity  transmission,  but  likewise 
various  transformations  which  occur  in  the  descendants.  They 
are  aware  that  simple  neuropathy  (nervous  tendency)  of  the 
parents  may  produce  in  the  children  an  organic  disposition  result- 
ing in  mania  or  melancholia,  nervous  affections  which  in  turn  may 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    65 

produce  more  serious  degeneracy  and  terminate  in  the  idiocy  or 
imbecility  of  those  who  form  the  last  link  in  the  chain  of  hered- 
itary transmission." 

Dr.  Moreau,  a  prominent  member  of  the  same  school,  tells 
us  that  "it  is  not  in  the  identity  of  functions,  or  of  organic  or 
intellectual  facts  that  we  must  seek  the  application  of  the  law  of 
heredity,  but  at  the  very  fountain  head  of  the  organism,  in  its 
inmost  constitution.  A  family  whose  head  has  died  insane  or 
epileptic  does  not  of  necessity  consist  of  lunatics  and  epileptics, 
but  the  children  may  be  idiotic,  paralytic,  or  scrofulous.  What 
the  parents  transmit  to  the  children  is  not  insanity,  but  a  vicious 
constitution  which  will  manifest  itself  under  various  forms  in 
epilepsy,  hysteria,  scrofula,  rickets,  etc.  This  is  what  is  to  be 
understood  by  hereditary  transmission." 

The  same  idea  is  emphasized  by  Fere  in  La  Famille  Neuro- 
pathique.  "Le  plus  souvent,  la  maladie  qui  se  transmet  se  trans- 
forme;  c'est  ainsi  qu'on  voit  succeder  la  manie,  la  melancolie, 
I'imbecillite,  I'idiotie."  The  lack  of  fidelity  which  characterizes 
the  transmission  of  defect  is  regarded  as  a  result  of  the  "dissolu- 
tion of  heredity"  occasioned  by  a  lack  of  developmental  energy 
(defaut  d'energie  embryogenique) .  "La  degredation  de  la  puis- 
sance embryogenique,  demontree  par  la  frequence  de  malfor- 
mations varices,  et  en  fin  de  compte  par  la  sterilite  dans  les  races 
degenerees  permet  de  comprendre  a  la  fois  I'heredite  morbide 
dissemblable,  et  I'heredite  morbide  collaterale."  But,  as  Fere 
hastens  to  add,  the  sequences  of  degenerative  changes  do  not 
follow  without  rhyme  or  reason.  There  is  a  more  or  less  definite 
grouping  of  symptoms  constituting  a  family  of  related  defects. 
"La  degenerescence  a  ses  lois  comme  revolution  normale;  quelle 
que  soit  sa  cause,  elle  se  manifeste  sous  un  petit  nombre  de  formes 
communes." 

If  degeneration  is  due  to  a  general  defect  of  developmental 
energy  or  the  presence  of  factors  which  exercise  an  injurious 
influence  upon  the  evolution  of  the  embryo,  its  protean  manifes- 
tations need  not  surprise  us.  One  of  the  most  conspicuous  fea- 
tures of  the  results  of  experimentation  upon  the  effects  of  external 


66  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

agencies  on  embr}^omc  development  is  the  great  variety  of  anom- 
alies which  are  produced  in  response  to  any  one  agency.  Fere's 
interest  in  the  causation  of  innate  defect  led  him  to  consider  the 
problem  of  how  development  may  be  influenced  by  external 
factors,  and  accordingly  we  find  the  author  of  the  Pathology  oj 
the  Emotions  and  various  other  treatises  on  abnormal  psychology 
and  nervous  disorders,  writing  numerous  notes  upon  the  effect  of 
all  sorts  of  agencies  upon  the  development  of  the  egg  of  the 
domestic  fowl.  Injurious  agencies  generally  effect  a  retardation 
of  development  and  the  production  of  various  anomalies;  more 
rarely  there  are  produced  individuals  defective  in  certain  respects 
but  presenting  in  general  a  superior  development. 

There  is  a  certain  parallelism  between  the  manifestations  of 
morbid  heredity  and  the  pathological  effects  of  injurious  agencies. 
Just  as  certain  substances  produce  a  great  variety  of  teratological 
effects  in  the  developing  embryo,  so  certain  hereditary  factory 
result  in  very  diverse  characters  in  the  adult  organism.  The 
toxins  of  a  chronic  disease  such  as  syphilis  produce  a  bewildering 
multiplicity  of  symptoms,  and  it  should  occasion  no  surprise  that 
certain  inherited  tendencies  should  do  likewise.  If  there  be 
hereditary  factors  whose  effect  on  development  is  to  produce  a 
general  retardation  and  deterioration  after  the  manner  of  the 
toxic  influence  of  some  chemical  substance,  the  manifestations  of 
these  factors  in  successive  generations  might  take  the  form  of 
stigmata  of  degenerations  as  varied  as  those  which  occur  in  many 
families  of  defective  human  beings.  Fere  speaks  of  such  phenom- 
ena as  indicative  of  "the  dissolution  of  heredity,"  as  if  we  were 
dealing  with  something  which  weakened  or  broke  up  the  force  of 
embryogenic  energy.  Perhaps  the  germ  plasm  of  certain  individ- 
uals may  contain  elements  which  tend  to  destroy  the  fidelity  of 
hereditary  resemblance,  although  it  may  be  questioned  whether 
this  would  in  strictness  be  a  dissolution  of  heredity. 

It  is,  of  course,  possible  to  maintain  that  the  multiplicity  of 
degenerative  phenomena  in  human  beings  is  the  result  of  various 
unit  factors  each  of  which  tends  to  produce  a  particular  kind  of 
defect.    However  true  this  may  be  in  regard  to  certain  character- 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    67 

istics,  it  cannot,  I  think,  be  considered  as  a  probable  general 
conclusion  in  the  light  of  our  present  knowledge.  For  many  of 
the  so-called  stigmata  of  degeneracy  there  is  little  or  no  positive 
evidence  of  transmission  as  particular  characters  apart  from  the 
general  complex.  The  apparent  substitution  of  one  anomaly  for 
another  and  the  fact  that  certain  forms  of  anomalies  are  apt  to  be 
correlated  with  certain  others,  although  not  showing  a  constant 
correlation,  point  to  the  conclusion  that  in  most  anomahes  we  are 
dealing  with  symptoms  of  heritable  defect  instead  of  hereditary 
characters  per  se.  Fere  who  has  brought  together  a  number  of 
cases  of  this  "malformation  multiples"  comments  on  "la  coinci- 
dence du  bec-de-lievre  avec  I'infantilisme,  avec  la  polydactyUe  et 
le  pied  bot,  ou  avec  la  syndactylie  et  d'autres  vices  de  conforma- 
tion des  extremites,  de  la  polydactylie  avec  le  coloboma  de  I'iris 
et  la  retinite  pigmentaire,"  and  many  other  associations  some  of 
which  may  rest  upon  mere  coincidences. 

One  is,  of  course,  not  justified  in  lumping  all  sorts  of  defects 
together  as  the  result  of  a  single  tendency  to  degeneration.  There 
are  indications  of  types  of  degeneracy  within  which  certain 
stigmata  are  particularly  prone  to  appear  while  other  types  of 
degeneracy  are  apt  to  be  manifested  by  other  groups  of  symptoms. 
The  protean  manifestation  of  certain  types  of  defect  makes  the 
analysis  of  the  phenomena  a  matter  of  unusual  difficulty,  and  one 
which  is  often  further  complicated  by  association  with  the  like- 
wise protean  manifestations  of  hereditary  syphilis.  The  following 
family  history  reported  by  Kiernan  and  described  in  Talbot's 
Degeneracy  will  forcibly  illustrate  this  point:  "A  farmer  lived 
twenty  miles  distant  from  his  nearest  neighbor,  whose  only  child 
he  married.  .  .  .  He  then  found  lead  on  his  farm  and  went  to  a 
city  .  .  .  where  he  made  money  more  as  a  cunning  tool  than  an 
adventurer.  He  became  a  high  liver,  gouty  and  dyspeptic,  and 
died  with  symptoms  of  gouty  kidney  at  70.  The  couple  had  five 
children.  The  eldest,  a  son,  became  a  'Napoleon  of  Finance,'  .  .  . 
He  married  a  society  woman,  the  last  scion  of  an  old  family.  The 
second  child,  a  daughter,  was  club-footed  and  early  suffered  from 
gouty  tophi.    She  married  a  society  man  of  old  family  who  had 


68  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

cleft  palate.  The  third  child,  a  daughter,  had  congenital  squint. 
She  married  a  man  who  suffered  from  migraine  of  a  periodical 
type.  The  fourth  child,  a  daughter,  was  normal.  She  married  a 
thirty-year-old  active  business  man,  in  whom  ataxia  developed  a 
year  after  marriage.  The  fifth  child,  a  son,  was  ataxic  at  eight- 
een. The  children  of  the  'Napoleon  of  Finance'  and  the  society 
woman  were  an  imbecile  son,  a  nymphomaniac,  a  hysteric,  a 
female  epileptic  who  had  a  double  uterus,  and  a  son  who  wrote 
verses  and  was  a  society  man.  The  clef  t-palated  society  man  and 
club-footed  woman  had  triplets  born  dead  and  a  squinting, 
migrainous  son  who,  left  penniless  by  his  parents,  married  his 
cousin,  the  nymphomaniac  daughter  of  the  'Napoleon  of  Fi- 
nance,' after  being  detected  in  an  intrigue  with  her.  The  mi- 
grainous man  and  squinting  daughter  of  the  farmer  stock-broker 
had  a  sexually  inverted  masculine  daughter,  a  daughter  subject 
to  periodical  bleeding  at  the  nose  irrespective  of  menstruation,  as 
well  as  chorea  during  childhood,  a  normal  daughter,  a  deaf-mute 
phthisical  son,  a  daughter  with  cloacal  formation  of  the  perineum, 
an  ameliac  son,  a  cyclopian  daughter  (with  one  central  eye)  born 
dead,  and,  finally,  a  normal  son.  The  sexual  invert  married  the 
versifier  son  of  the  'Napoleon  of  Finance.'  The  progeny  of  the 
normal  daughter  of  the  farmer  stock-broker  and  the  ataxic  hus- 
band were  a  dead-born,  sarcomatous  son,  a  gouty  son,  twin  boys 
paralyzed  in  infancy,  twin  girls  normal,  a  normal  son,  and  a  son 
ataxic  at  fourteen.  The  progeny  of  the  nymphomaniac  daughter 
and  her  strabismic,  migrainous  cousin  were  a  ne'er-do-well,  a 
periodical  lunatic,  a  dipsomaniac  daughter  who  died  of  cancer  of 
the  stomach,  deformed  triplets  who  died  at  birth,  an  epileptic 
imbecile  son,  a  hermaphrodite,  a  prostitute,  a  double  monster 
born  dead,  a  normal  daughter  and  a  paranoiac  son." 

Aside  from  the  evidences  of  luetic  infection  in  some  branches 
of  this  unfortunate  family,  there  is  a  combination  of  traits,  some 
of  which,  as  bleeding  and  color  blindness,  are  commonly  trans- 
mitted as  so-called  "unit  characters,"  while  others  are  sympto- 
matic of  defective  tendencies  which  might  find  expression  in  a 
multitude  of  forms. 


INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  DEFECTS  AND  DISEASE    69 

Doubtless  the  writers  who  attribute  so  much  to  degeneracy 
have  often  failed  to  recognize  traits  which  are  separately  trans- 
missible. But  on  the  other  hand,  exclusive  attention  to  the 
inheritance  of  particular  characteristics  leads  to  a  disregard  of 
other  features  of  organisms  which  may  be  associated  with  the 
characters  studied.  Most  studies  made  upon  the  MendeHan 
inheritance  of  human  traits  suffer  from  this  drawback.  Inspired 
by  the  desire  to  apply  Mendel's  law  to  all  heritable  traits,  Mendel- 
ians  have  focussed  their  attention  almost  exclusivity  upon  partic- 
ular characters  in  the  hope  of  unravelling  the  complex  skein  of 
human  inheritance  by  tracing  out  the  individual  traits.  With 
fuller  experience  with  Mendelian  phenomena  it  is  coming  to  be 
recognized  by  many  investigators  that  ''characters"  are  not 
entities  by  themselves,  but  symptoms  of  general  and  deep-seated 
though  it  may  be  slight  modifications.  As  Dr.  T.  H.  Morgan  says  : 
"Most  students  of  genetics  realize  that  a  factor  difference  usually 
affects  more  than  a  single  character.  For  example,  a  mutant 
stock  [of  Drosophila]  called  rudimentary  wings  has  as  its  principle 
[principal]  characteristic  very  short  wings.  But  the  factor  for 
rudimentary  wings  also  produces  other  effects  as  well.  The  fe- 
males are  almost  completely  sterile,  while  the  males  are  fertile. 
The  viability  of  the  stock  is  poor.  When  flies  with  rudimentary 
wings  are  put  into  competition  with  wild  flies  relatively  few  of  the 
rudimentary  flies  come  through,  especially  if  the  culture  is 
crowded.  The  hind  legs  are  also  shortened.  All  these  effects  are 
the  results  of  a  single  factor-difference."  Such  flies  may  be  called 
degenerates;  whether  they  are  more  variable  than  robust  races 
we  do  not  know. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  many  writers  of  a  generation  or  more 
ago  employed  the  notion  of  degeneracy  in  too  wide  and  loose  a 
sense.  Nevertheless  there  may  be  an  important  element  of  truth 
in  the  idea  which  is  apt  to  be  overlooked  by  modern  geneticists  in 
their  preoccupation  with  the  transmission  of  particular  and  clearly 
definable  characteristics.  A  more  critical  study  of  degenerate 
strains  of  plants  and  animals  might  afford  valuable  suggestions 
for  the  interpretation  of  many  phenomena  of  human  heredity. 


70  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

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Davenport,  C.  B.  Heredity  in  Relation  to  Eugenics.  Holt  and  Co.,  N.  Y., 
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Pearson,  K.,  Mendelism  and  the  Problem  of  Mental  Defect,  IH.  On  the  Grad- 
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StaLner,  E.  The  Hereditary  Transmission  of  Defects  in  Man.  Oxford  Univ. 
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Crafts,  L.  W.     Bibliography  of  Feeble-Mindedness  in  its  Social  Aspects.    Jour. 

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2,  1912. 

Goddard,  H.  H.  Heredity  of  Feeble-mindedness.  Bull.  Eugen.  Rec.  Off.,  No.  i, 
1911.  The  Kallikak  Family,  Macmillan  Co.,  N.  Y.  1912.  Feeble-mindedness: 
its  Causes  and  Consequences.   Macmillan  Co.,  N.  Y.   1914. 

Lafora,  G.  R.  Los  Nifios  Mentalmente  Anormales,  pp.  XII  +576.  Ciencia  y 
Educacion  Manuales,  Madrid,  1917. 

Tredgold,  A.  F.  Mental  Deficiency  (Amentia).  Balliere,  Tindall  and  Cox.  Lon- 
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INSANITY 

Berze,  J.     Die  manic-depressive  Familie.     Monatschr.  f.  Psych.  26,  270,  1909. 

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Wien,  1910. 
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la  Folie  maniaque-depressive.    These  Univ.  Lausanne.    Sauberlin  and  Pfeiffer, 

Vevey, 19 15. 
Cannon,  G.  L.,  and  Rosanoff,  A.  J.    Preliminary  Report  of  a  Study  of  Heredity  in 

Insanity  in  the  Light  of  the  Mendelian  Laws.    Bull.  Eugen.  Rec.  Off.,  No.  3, 

1911. 
Cotton,  H.  A.    Some  Problems  in  the  Study  of  Heredity  in  Mental  Diseases.    Bull. 

Eugen.  Rec.  Off.  No.  8,  1912,  also  Am.  Jour.  Insanity,  69,  31-89,  1912. 
Davenport,  C.  B.,  and  Muncey,E. B.    Huntington's  Chorea  in  Relation  to  Heredity 

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Geisteskranken.    Arch  Rass.  u.  Ges.  Biol.  2,  215-252,  336-368,  1905. 
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Drapers'  Co.  Research  Mems.  5,  Dulau  and  Co.,  London,  1909. 
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Insane  Diathesis.    Eugen.  Lab.  Mems.  2,  London,  1907.    An  Examination  of 

Some  Recent  Studies  of  the  Inheritance  Factor  in  Insanity.    Biometrica,  10, 

356-383,  1914- 
Maudsley,  H.   The  Pathology  of  the  Mind,  3d.  ed.,  New  York  1894. 
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genics. I,  400-428,  191 2.    The  Neuropathic  Inheritance.    Jour.  Ment.  Sci.  59, 

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Insanity.    Archiv  Neur.  and  Psych.  6,  79-98,  19 14. 
Pearson,  K.    On  the  Inheritance  of  the  Mental  and  Moral  Characters  in  Man,  and 

its  Comparison  with  the  Inheritance  of  the  Physical  Characters.    Jour.  An- 

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Med.  Jour.  1905. 
Rehm,  O.     Die  Ergebnisse  der  Untersuchung  von  Kindem  manisch-depressiver 

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1909. 
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Dr.  David  Heron's  Criticism  of  Recent  American  Work,  1.  c.  70,  571-587, 

1913-14. 
Rosanoff,  A.  J.,  and  Orr,F  .  J.    A  Study  of  Insanity  in  the  Light  of  the  Mendelian 

Theory,  Bull.  Eugen.  Rec.  Off.,  No.  5,  1911,  also  Am.  Jour.  Insan.  68,  221- 

261,  1911. 
Riidin,  E.    Einige  Wege  und  Ziele  der  Familienforschung  mit  Riicksicht  auf  die 

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72  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

Strohmayer,  W.  Zur  Kritik  der  Feststellung  und  der  Bewertung  psychoneui otischer 
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INSANITY   AND  GENIUS 

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Ellis,  H.  H.    A  Study  of  British  Genius,  London,  1904. 

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London,  1874.    Appleton's,  N.  Y.,  1875. 
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1908. 
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EPILEPSY 

Bingswanger,  O.    Die  Epilepsie.    Holder,  Wien,  1913. 

Doran,  R.  E.    A  Consideration  of  the  Hereditary  Factors  in  Epilepsy.    Am.  Jour. 

Insan.  60,  61-73,  1903- 
Davenport,  C.  B.,  and  Weeks,  D.  F.    A  First  Study  of  Inheritance  in  Epilepsy. 

Bull.  Eugen.  Rec.  Off.,  No.  4,  191 1;  also  Jour.  Nerv.  and  Ment.  Dis.  38,  641- 

670,  1911. 
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1915- 
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CHAPTER  IV 

THE  HERITABLE  BASIS  OF  CRIME  AND 
DELINQUENCY 

"  Si  la  pauvrete  est  la  mere  des  crimes,  le  defaut  d'esprit  en  est  le 
pere." — La  Bruyere,  De  V Homme. 

Strictly  speaking  it  is  of  course  absurd  to  speak  of  the  inheri- 
tance of  criminality.  Crime  is  an  offense  against  law.  What  is 
crime  in  one  age  and  country  may  not  be  crime  in  another.  No 
one  is  a  criminal  until  he  commits  a  crime,  and  whether  or  not  a 
person  so  acts  as  to  bring  himself  into  conflict  with  the  law  of 
the  land  is  obviously  dependent  upon  many  circumstances. 
Under  just  the  proper  combination  of  conditions,  doubtless  most 
of  us  might  have  become  criminals,  for  a  time  at  least. 

While  crime  is  in  a  very  large  degree  a  product  of  bad  training 
and  evil  surroundings,  some  individuals  may  have,  in  a  much 
greater  degree  than  others,  certain  traits  which  dispose  them  to 
commit  criminal  actions.  What  a  man  does  is  the  result  of  both 
hereditary  and  environmental  factors.  The  recognition  of  the 
fact  that  the  criminal  is  not  merely  a  sinner  to  be  punished,  but  a 
product  to  be  scientifically  studied  and  understood,  is  gradually 
leading  to  a  new  attitude  toward  the  phenomena  of  crime.  As 
judged  by  many  modem  students  of  the  subject,  crime  belongs 
largely  in  the  field  of  pathology.  Where  it  is  not  to  be  attributed 
to  bad  education  or  environment  it  is  charged  to  abnormal 
heredity. 

Since  the  publication  of  Morel's  treatise  on  degeneration,  there 
has  been  an  increasing  amount  of  attention  paid  to  the  various 
physical  characteristics  which  are  supposed  to  stigmatize  the 
natural-born  criminal.  Among  the  foremost  of  the  students  of 
criminal  anthropology  is  Lombroso  whose  anthropometric  studies 
of  numerous  criminals  in  Italian  prisons  convinced  him  of  the 

73 


74  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

existence  of  a  definite  type, — a  kind  of  human  being  endowed  with 
a  peculiar  physical  organization  and  with  instincts  which  power- 
fully dispose  him  to  commit  anti-social  acts.  Such  individuals 
seem  predestined  to  a  life  of  crime  from  the  day  of  their  concep- 
tion. They  take  to  it  as  a  cow  takes  to  pasture,  because  of  the 
impelling  force  of  unconquerable  instinct. 

Lombroso's  early  study  of  psychiatry  gradually  led  him  into 
the  field  of  anthropometry.  He  began  a  series  of  studies  on  the 
physical  and  mental  characteristics  of  Italian  prisoners  and 
having  had  occasion  to  make  a  post-mortem  study  of  a  famous 
brigand,  Vilella,  he  was  struck  with  certain  anomalies  of  the 
brain  and  particularly  with  a  depression  situated  "precisely  in  the 
middle  of  the  occiput  as  in  inferior  animals,  especially  rodents." 
"At  the  sight  of  that  skull,"  says  Lombroso,  "I  seemed  to  see 
all  of  a  sudden,  lighted  up  as  a  vast  plain  under  a  flaming  sky,  the 
problem  of  the  nature  of  the  criminal — an  atavistic  being  who 
reproduces  in  his  person  the  ferocious  instincts  of  primitive 
humanity  and  the  inferior  animals.  Thus  were  explained  anatom- 
ically the  enormous  jaws,  high  cheek-bones,  prominent  super- 
ciliary arches,  solitary  lines  in  the  palms,  extreme  size  of  the 
orbits,  handle-shaped  or  sessile  ears  found  in  criminals,  savages, 
and  apes,  insensibility  to  pain,  extremely  acute  sight,  tattooing, 
excessive  idleness,  love  of  orgies,  and  the  irresistible  craving  for 
evil  for  its  own  sake,  the  desire  not  only  to  extinguish  life  in  the 
victim,  but  to  mutilate  the  corpse,  tear  its  flesh,  and  drink  its 
blood." 

Further  studies  carried  on  with  much  industry  and  enthusiasm 
served  to  confirm  Lombroso  in  his  interpretation  of  the  born 
criminal  as  an  atavistic  product.  It  would  be  unjust  to  represent 
Lombroso,  as  some  of  his  critics  have  done,  as  teaching  that  all 
or  even  a  large  majority  of  offenders  are  born  criminals.  He  is 
perfectly  well  aware,  and  has  clearly  stated,  that  many  who  are 
led  into  crime  are  the  victims  of  untoward  influences,  but  he 
insists  that  there  is  a  class  of  human  beings  of  degenerate  inheri- 
tance, and  distinguished  by  certain  physical  and  mental  peculiar- 
ities, who  constitute  a  so-called  criminal  type.    And  he  is  careful 


HERITABLE  BASIS  OF  CRIME  AND  DELINQUENCY     75 

to  explain  that  by  type  he  does  not  mean  a  pattern  to  which  all 
born  criminals  conform.  The  type,  as  in  comparative  anatomy, 
is  an  ideal  construction  from  which  the  actual  embodiments 
depart  to  a  greater  or  less  degree.  Some  of  the  stigmata  that 
characterize  the  born  criminal  may  fail  in  one  offender  and  others 
may  be  lacking  in  others.  ''  In  normal  individuals,"  says  Madame 
Ferrero,  the  daughter  and  approved  interpreter  of  Lombroso, 
"we  never  find  that  accumulation  of  physical,  psychical,  func- 
tional and  skeletal  anomalies  in  one  and  the  same  person  that  we 
do  in  the  case  of  criminals,  among  whom  also  entire  freedom  from 
abnormal  characteristics  is  more  rare  than  among  ordinary 
individuals." 

"Just  as  a  musical  theme  is  the  result  of  a  sum  of  notes  and  not 
of  any  single  note,  the  criminal  type  results  from  the  aggregate 
of  these  anomalies  which  render  him  strange  and  terrible,  not 
only  to  the  scientific  observer,  but  to  ordinary  persons  who  are 
capable  of  impartial  judgment." 

The  instinctive  suspicion  that  we  entertain  of  certain  bad 
characters  is  held  to  be  an  indication  of  the  existence  of  physical 
signs  of  criminality.  Popular  sayings  offer  evidence  of  this  as  is 
indicated  by  the  following:  "There  is  nothing  worse  under 
Heaven  than  a  scanty  beard  and  a  colorless  face."  "The  squint 
eyed  are  on  all  sides  accursed."  "A  turned  up  nose  is  worse  than 
hail."    "Beware  of  him  who  looks  away  when  he  speaks  to  you." 

Among  the  marks  said  to  be  characteristic  of  criminals  are 
anomalies  in  the  size  and  shape  of  the  skull,  large  face  with 
prominent  cheek  bones  and  jaws,  asymmetry  of  the  face,  ears, 
and  eyes,  drooping  or  oblique  eyelids,  and  eyes  with  a  hard  ex- 
pression and  shifty  glance,  large  misshapen  ears  frequently  with 
Darwin's  tubercles,  twisted  nose,  aquiline  in  murderers,  but 
flattened  and  upturned  in  thieves,  palatal  ridges,  anomalous 
teeth,  scanty  beard,  and  relatively  long  arms.  In  the  brain 
anomalies  are  frequent,  such  as  hypertrophied  vermis,  doubling 
of  the  fissure  of  Rolando,  and  peculiarities  of  the  cells,  especially 
in  the  frontal  lobes.  Certain  kinds  of  criminals,  such  as  mur- 
derers, are  supposed  to  difi'er  in  their  stigmata  from  others,  such 


76  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

as  thieves.  Many  of  the  stigmata,  like  the  third  trochanter,  poly- 
dactylism,  perforate  head  of  the  humerus,  etc.,  occur  only  in  a 
small  percentage  of  cases,  but  more  frequently  than  in  normal 
persons. 

According  to  Lombroso  most  of  the  senses  of  criminals,  except 
sight,  are  dull.  There  is  an  insensitiveness  to  pain  which  in 
certain  cases  is  very  striking.  Criminals  are  commonly  impulsive 
and  may  at  times  act  with  much  energ}^,  but  they  are  generally 
lazy.  Moral  sense  and  natural  sympathies  are  at  a  low  ebb. 
Remorse  seldom  afHicts  the  born  criminal.  Vindictiveness,  cruelty 
and  excessive  egotism  and  vanity  are  common  traits.  Intelli- 
gence, generally  subnormal,  may  be  well  developed  in  some 
instances;  as  a  rule  criminals  show  a  lack  of  prudence  and  fore- 
thought which  often  serves  the  ends  of  justice  through  causing 
failure  adequately  to  conceal  the  evidences  of  crime. 

Lombroso  regards  the  born  criminal  as  an  atavistic  product. 
Many  of  the  stigmata  are  said  to  represent  characteristics  found 
in  the  lower  animals  or  among  the  savage  races  of  mankind.  The 
born  criminal  is  a  brute  or  savage  living  among  human  beings 
who  have  advanced  beyond  his  stage  of  development.  He  repre- 
sents a  survival  of  a  primitive  type. 

Lombroso  recognized,  especially  in  his  later  writings,  that 
certain  criminals  are  to  be  regarded  as  pathological  products 
rather  than  cases  of  atavism.  An  important  role  is  attributed  to 
insanity  and  especially  epilepsy  in  the  causation  of  crime,  and  the 
effort  is  made  to  establish  a  fundamental  relationship  between 
epilepsy  and  the  atavistic  traits  of  the  born  criminal.  ''Crimi- 
nality," says  Lombroso,  "is  an  atavistic  phenomenon  which  is 
provoked  by  morbid  causes  of  which  the  fundamental  manifesta- 
tion is  epilepsy.  It  is  true  that  criminality  can  be  provoked  by 
other  diseases  .  .  .  but  it  is  epilepsy  which  gives  to  it,  by  its 
gravity,  the  most  extended  basis." 

The  experience  of  Lombroso  and  other  investigators  shows 
that  epilepsy  is  much  more  prevalent  in  criminals  than  among 
normal  individuals,  although  not  so  common  as  Lombroso's  doc- 
trine would  lead  one  to  expect.    This  fact  he  attempts  to  account 


HERITABLE  BASIS  OF  CRIME  AND  DELINQUENCY    77 

for  by  the  theory  that  epilepsy  of  criminals  commonly  exists  in 
an  attenuated  or  modified  form.  "If  fully  developed  epileptic 
fits  are  often  lacking  in  case  of  the  born  criminal,  this  is  because 
they  remain  latent  under  the  influence  of  the  causes  assigned, 
(anger,  alcoholism),  which  bring  them  to  the  surface.  With  both 
criminals  and  epileptics  there  is  to  be  noted  an  insufficient  devel- 
opment of  the  higher  centres.  This  manifests  itself  in  the  de- 
terioration in  the  moral  and  emotional  sensibilities  .  .  .  and  es- 
pecially in  the  lack  of  balance  in  the  mental  faculties,  which,  even 
when  distinguished  by  genius  and  altruism,  nevertheless  always 
show  gaps,  contrasts,  and  intermittent  action." 

The  investigations  and  theories  of  Lombroso  greatly  stimu- 
lated the  study  of  criminology  and  formed  the  starting  point  of  a 
school,  the  so-called  positive  school  of  criminologists,  which  has 
been  particularly  active  in  collecting  data  on  criminal  anthro- 
pology. The  doctrines  of  this  school  have  been  vigorously 
opposed  by  other  students  of  crime,  especially  by  Tarde,  Topi- 
nard,  and  more  recently  Goring  whose  work  on  The  English 
Convict  represents  perhaps  the  most  thorough  biometric  investi- 
gation of  criminals  that  has  yet  been  made.  If  the  members  of 
the  positive  school  went  too  far  in  representing  the  born  criminal 
as  a  member  of  a  distinct  atavistic  type,  they  did  valuable  service 
in  directing  attention  to  the  fact  that  crime  often  has  a  basis  in 
physical  and  mental  abnormality,  and  in  paving  the  way  for  a 
true  science  of  criminology. 

The  notion  of  atavism  in  the  sense  in  which  it  figures  so  largely 
in  the  theories  of  the  positive  school  is  one  which  is  no  longer 
adopted  by  most  modern  workers  in  genetics.  The  reversion 
which  follows  upon  the  restoration  of  ancestral  conditions  in  the 
germ  plasm  by  the  combination  of  complementary  factors  in  the 
crossing  of  different  races  of  plants  and  animals,  is  a  phenomenon 
quite  different  from  the  so-called  atavistic  peculiarities  of  criminal 
man.  Much  of  what  appears  like  atavism  may  result  from 
arrested  development  occasioned  by  various  pathological  causes. 
And  many  deviations  from  normal  structure  which,  if  they  do  not 
happen  to  resemble  conditions  occurring  in  one  animal  may  be 


78  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

like  something  found  in  another,  do  not  necessarily  have  any 
connection  with  reversion  at  all,  but  are  simply  the  consequences 
of  an  abnormal  inheritance,  or  the  toxins  of  disease. 

To  the  extent  that  the  born  criminal  deviates  from  normal 
man  his  pecuHarities  are  to  be  regarded  as  the  result  of  aberrant 
rather  than  reversionary  development.  The  biometric  studies  of 
the  English  convict  by  Goring  have  shown  that  these  deviations 
are  much  less  frequent  than  is  commonly  represented  by  the 
positive  school.  Goring's  work  was  based  upon  careful  measure- 
ments of  three  thousand  criminals  committed  to  prisons  for 
various  kinds  of  crime.  A  comparison  was  made  of  thirty-seven 
physical  attributes  in  five  different  classes  of  criminals  with  the 
end  of  ascertaining  whether  or  not  these  classes  could  be  distin- 
guished by  any  average  differences  of  structure.  For  the  most 
part  when  allowance  was  made  for  average  age  and  other  differ- 
ences in  the  classes  compared,  the  differences  in  the  physical 
characters  of  the  five  groups  were  so  small  that  no  particular 
significance  could  be  attached  to  them.  In  certain  respects, 
however,  differential  characteristics  were  found.  Those  convicted 
of  crimes  of  violence  are  superior  to  other  kinds  of  criminals  and 
to  the  general  population  of  corresponding  age  in  physical  strength 
and  health.  Next  come  the  sexual  offenders;  thieves  and  burglars 
occupy  an  intermediate  position;  while  those  guilty  of  forgery, 
fraud  and  damage  to  property  are  least  developed  in  muscular 
strength  and  have  the  poorest  health.  Criminals  convicted  of 
forgery  and  fraud  are  of  the  greatest  average  height,  while  thieves 
and  burglars  are  inferior  in  stature  as  well  as  weight  and  "puny  in 
their  general  bodily  habit."  Aside  from  general  differences  in 
physique,  such  as  height,  weight,  obesity,  strength  and  health, 
there  are  no  anatomical  peculiarities  which  differentiate  criminals 
of  different  types  or  which  serve  to  distinguish  criminals  in  general 
from  the  average  run  of  mankind. 

The  criminal  anthropologist  might  urge  that  the  variations 
among  criminals,  which  are  admittedly  in  all  directions,  might 
tend  to  cancel  one  another  in  the  statistical  average  and  hence  fail 
to  reveal  the  greater  preponderance  of  physical  anomalies  that 


HERITABLE  BASIS  OF  CRIME  AND  DELINQUENCY    79 

characterize  the  criminal  type.  Statistical  methods,  however, 
provide  a  means  of  testing  such  a  supposition  by  enabling  us  to 
compare  the  standard  deviations  of  the  characteristics  tabulated. 
The  standard  deviation,  a  measure  of  the  average  departure  of 
individuals  from  the  mean  of  the  group,  gives  us  a  precise  measure 
of  the  variability  of  the  group  dealt  with.  By  comparing  the 
standard  deviations  of  the  curves  of  variability  for  any  measur- 
able character  in  criminals  and  non-criminals  it  can  be  determined 
which  class  of  men  exhibits  the  greater  average  degree  of  variation. 
This  method  is  much  more  precise  and  valuable  than  the  loose 
enumeration  of  particular  cases  which  is  so  often  found  in  writings 
on  criminal  anthropology.  When  applied  to  criminals  by 
Goring  (he  applied  the  standard  deviation  for  thirty-seven 
physical  characters  both  in  the  criminal  sub-groups  and  in  the 
criminal  group  in  general) ,  it  was  found  that  the  characters  of  the 
sub-groups  of  criminals  had  much  the  same  range  of  physical 
variability,  and  that  criminals  as  a  whole  compared  with  different 
classes  of  non-criminals  fail  to  show  any  significantly  greater 
range  of  variation  in  the  physical  features  of  which  measurements 
were  obtained. 

The  doctrine  that  the  born  criminal  is  an  anomalous,  atavistic 
creature  set  apart  from  the  rest  of  mankind  by  the  possession  of 
a  physical  and  mental  organization  that  inevitably  disposes  him 
to  evil  is  rejected  as  without  adequate  basis  of  fact.  "There  is  no 
such  thing  as  an  anthropological  criminal  type." 

But  while  denying  the  existence  of  a  specific  type  of  criminal, 
Goring  is  careful  to  state  that  criminals  are  discriminated  from 
the  law-abiding  public  by  certain  general  physical  and  mental 
characteristics.  His  standpoint  is  best  stated  in  his  own  words: 
"Reviewing  the  general  trend  of  our  results,  it  would  seem  that 
the  appearances,  stated  by  anthropologists  of  all  countries  to  be 
peculiar  to  criminals,  are  thus  described  because  of  a  too  separate 
inspection  and  narrow  view  of  the  facts  by  these  observers.  They 
cannot  see  the  wood  for  the  trees.  Obsessed  by  preconceived 
beliefs,  small  differences  of  intimate  structure  have  been  uncriti- 
cally accepted  by  them,  and  exaggerated  to  fit  fantastic  theories 


So  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

The  truths  that  have  been  overlooked  are  that  these  deviations, 
described  as  significant  of  criminality,  are  the  inevitable  concomi- 
tants of  inferior  stature  and  defective  intelligence :  both  of  which 
are  the  differentia  of  the  type  of  persons  who  are  selected  for  im- 
prisonment. The  thief  who  is  caught  thieving,  has  a  smaller  head 
and  narrower  forehead  than  the  man  who  arrests  him;  but  this  is 
the  case,  not  because  he  is  more  criminal,  but  because,  of  the  two, 
he  is  the  more  markedly  inferior  in  stature.  The  incendiary  is 
more  emotionally  unstable,  and  more  lacking  in  control,  more 
refractory  in  conduct,  and  more  dirty  in  habit,  etc.,  than  the  thief; 
and  the  thief  is  more  distinguished  by  the  above  peculiarities 
than  the  forger;  and  all  criminals  display  these  qualities  to  a  more 
marked  extent  than  does  the  law-abiding  public;  not  because  any 
one  of  these  classes  is  more  criminal  than  another,  but  because  of 
their  interdifferentiation  in  general  intelligence.  On  statistical 
evidence  one  assertion  can  be  dogmatically  made:  it  is,  that  the 
criminal  is  differentiated  by  inferior  stature,  by  defective  intelli- 
gence, and,  to  some  extent,  by  his  anti-social  proclivities;  but  that 
apart  from  these  broad  differences,  there  are  no  physical,  men- 
tal, or  moral  characteristics  peculiar  to  the  inmates  of  English 
prisons." 

The  influence  of  heredity  in  the  production  of  crime  according 
to  Goring  is  very  strong.  Criminality,  as  most  other  students  of 
the  subject  have  found,  shows  a  marked  tendency  to  run  in 
families.  To  the  question  whether  heredity  or  environmental 
factors  are  the  most  potent  in  producing  criminals,  Goring  re- 
marks: "We  think  our  figures,  showing  the  comparatively  insig- 
nificant relation  of  family  and  other  environmental  conditions 
with  crime,  and  the  high  and  enormously  augmented  association  of 
feeble-mindedness  with  conviction  for  crime,  and  its  well-marked 
relation  with  alcoholism,  epilepsy,  sexual  profligacy,  ungovern- 
able temper,  obstinacy  of  purpose,  and  willful  anti-social  activ- 
ity— every  one  of  these,  as  well  as  feeble-mindedness,  being  heritable 
qualities —  we  think  that  these  figures,  coupled  with  those  showing 
the  marked  degree  of  ancestral  resemblance  in  regard  to  the  fate 
of  imprisonment,  go  far  to  answering  this  question." 


HERITABLE  BASIS  OF  CRIME  AND  DELINQUENCY    8i 

Whatever  the  final  verdict  of  criminal  anthropology  may  be 
concerning  the  physical  peculiarities  of  the  instinctive  criminal, 
the  evidence  that  a  large  proportion  of  crime  is  the  outcome  of 
innate  mental  defects  and  vicious  propensities  is  abundant  and 
convincing.  Nearly  all  who  have  personally  investigated  the 
subject  have  found  a  high  degree  of  criminality,  alcoholism,  and 
mental  defect  in  the  parents  of  criminals.  Dr.  VirgiUo  finds 
crime  in  26.8  per  cent  of  the  parents  of  criminals,  associated 
frequently  with  alcoholism.  In  the  parentage  of  447  criminals 
Penta  found  criminality  in  88  cases,  hysteria  in  55,  epilepsy  in  ^t,, 
alcoholism  in  135  and  insanity  in  85.  In  the  parents  of  104 
criminals  whose  heredity  was  examined  by  Lombroso  there  were 
31  alcoholics,  10  criminals,  10  insane,  while  criminality  and 
prostitution  were  prominent  in  the  brothers  and  sisters.  Accord- 
ing to  Ellis,  "of  the  inmates  of  the  Elmira  Reformatory,  499,  or 
13.7  per  cent  have  been  of  insane  or  epileptic  heredity.  Of  233 
prisoners  at  Auburn,  New  York,  23.03  per  cent  were  clearly  of 
neurotic  (insane,  epileptic,  etc.)  origin,  in  reality  many  more." 
Sichard,  in  4,000  German  criminals,  found  a  neuropathic  inheri- 
tance in  36.  8  per  cent.  And  Pauline  Tarnowsky  in  studying  160 
women  homicides  found  alcoholism  in  71.24  per  cent  of  the  par- 
ents, mental  disease  in  10  per  cent,  and  syphilis  in  32.5  per  cent. 
Among  thieves  the  percentages  of  these  traits  were  49,  6,  and 
21  respectively,  and  among  prostitutes  82.66,  9,  and  48.  Among 
the  parents  of  50  educated  law-abiding  women  the  percentage  of 
alcoholism,  mental  disease  and  syphilis  was  6,  2,  and  10  respec- 
tively. 

The  presence  of  criminality  in  successive  generations  of  certain 
notorious  families  is  doubtless  to  be  attributed  only  in  part  to 
their  unfortunate  heredity,  since  environmental  factors  doubt- 
less contribute  largely  to  the  result.  One  of  the  first  of  such 
families  to  be  studied  in  detail  was  the  celebrated  Jukes  family 
which  enhsted  the  interest  of  Mr.  Dugdale,  an  able  student  of 
social  problems  and  an  active  worker  in  prison  reform.  During 
his  investigations  of  penal  institutions  in  New  York,  Dugdale  was 
struck  with  the  recurrence  of  the  same  family  name  among  the 


82  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

inmates  of  certain  prisons,  and  he  was  led  thereby  to  investigate 
the  family  connections  of  these  individuals,  with  the  result  of 
discovering  a  large  number  of  people  who  were  related  and  who 
could  be  traced  back  to  a  family  of  sisters,  one  of  whom,  Ada, 
nicknamed  "Margaret,  the  mother  of  criminals,"  gave  rise  to  a 
progeny  who  now  number  over  800  descendants.  Pauperism, 
crime,  and  especially  prostitution  were  remarkably  prevalent 
among  the  descendants  of  this  woman.  The  four  other  sisters  of 
Ada,  whose  histories  are  known,  have  left  progeny  whose  record  is 
of  the  same  general  character.  Of  the  709  Jukes  studied  by 
Dugdale,  180  were  paupers  or  had  received  poor  relief  to  the 
extent  of  800  years,  60  were  habitual  thieves,  50  prostitutes,  7 
murderers,  and  the  total  cost  to  the  state  was  estimated  at 
$1,308,000.00. 

This  record  was  based  on  the  history  of  the  family  up  to  1875 
when  Dugdale's  report  (subsequently,  1887,  issued  in  book  form 
entitled  The  Jukes)  was  first  published.  Owing  to  a  chance 
discovery  of  Dugdale's  original  manuscript  with  the  true  names 
of  the  individuals  indicated  (the  published  names  were  all  ficti- 
tious) it  became  possible  to  trace  out  the  later  history  of  the 
family.  This  has  been  done  by  Dr.  A.  E.  Estabrook  of  the 
Eugenics  Record  Office,  and  the  results  have  been  published  in  a 
monograph,  The  Jukes  in  igi5.  The  interval  between  Dug- 
dale's time  and  191 5  has  seen  a  rapid  increase  in  the  Jukes  family 
with  little  or  no  improvement  in  its  general  character.  Estab rook's 
investigations  covered  2,094  persons  of  whom  1,258  were  living  in 
191 5.  Of  the  whole  family  up  to  date  considering  only  those  of 
Jukes  blood,  170  were  paupers,  129  had  received  outdoor  relief, 
118  were  criminals,  378  were  prostitutes,  86  kept  brothels,  and 
181  were  intemperate.  The  following  extract,  which  is  essentially 
like  dozens  of  others  which  might  be  chosen  at  random  from  Dr. 
Estabrook's  monograph,  will  illustrate  the  general  nature  of  the 
Jukes  family  history: 

Abe  Isaac,  by  his  second  consort,  Loretta,  IV  3,  whom  he  married, 
had  seven  children:  Avery,  Alton,  Anson,  Augustus,  Alma,  Alonzo, 


HERITABLE  BASIS  OF  CRIME  AND  DELINQUENCY    83 

and  Amiel.    After  Loretta  died,  Abe  Isaac  cohabited  for  a  short  time 
with  Thehna,  IV  4,  but  had  no  children  by  her. 

Avery,  V  3,  was  "a  laborer";  at  30,  grand  larceny,  county  jail, 
90  days;  assault  and  battery,  county  jail,  90  days;  at  49,  rape  on  his 
niece.  Sing  Sing,  5  years;  no  property.  He  was  none  too  industrious 
and  received  a  pension  as  a  Civil  War  veteran.  He  cohabited  first 
with  Satie,  V  2,  a  wanderer  and  a  harlot,  and  had  two  children  by  her. 
The  older,  VI  13,  was  a  harlot  like  her  mother  and  has  been  arrested 
for  intemperance  and  disorderly  conduct.  The  other,  VI  14,  a  son, 
has  disappeared. 

Satie  deserted  Avery  and  he  then  married  Geneva,  V  4,  and  by  her 
had  six  children,  the  first  dying  at  birth.  While  Avery  was  in  State 
prison  for  rape  on  his  niece,  Geneva  was  in  and  out  of  the  poorhouse 
with  her  children,  and  it  was  in  the  poorhouse  that,  at  the  age  of  31, 
her  bastard  child  was  born.  Geneva's  family  is  interesting.  Her 
brother  has  been  in  the  penitentiary.  Her  mother  was  a  pauper  in  the 
poorhouse  at  the  same  time  that  Geneva  and  her  children  were  there, 
making  three  generations  of  one  family  who  were  being  cared  for  by 
the  town  at  the  same  time.  There  is  no  doubt  that  she  was  feeble- 
minded. At  one  time  she  tried  to  kill  one  of  her  children,  and  was 
thereupon  sent  to  a  hospital  for  the  insane.  She  was  addicted  to  the 
use  of  laudanum,  an  overdose  of  which  caused  her  death. 

The  first  child  of  Avery  and  Geneva  died  in  infancy.  The  second 
was  VI  16,  who  was  15  when  his  father  was  in  State  prison.  At  16 
this  boy  was  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  petit  larceny.  At  17  he  was  a 
vagrant,  wandering  here  and  there.  At  18  and  again  at  20  he  was  in 
the  poorhouse  for  one  year.  At  24  he  was  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for 
3  months  for  petit  larceny.  At  29  he  was  sent  to  State  prison  for 
28  months  for  assault.  At  35  he  was  in  the  county  jail  i  month  for 
intoxication,  and  again  at  55  he  was  in  the  county  jail  for  10  days  for 
the  same  offense.  He  has  lost  one  eye,  can  neither  read  nor  write, 
works  very  seldom,  and  begs  his  way  wherever  he  goes.  He  is  men- 
tally defective  and  should  have  been  in  custodial  care  many  years 
ago.  He  has  cohabited  for  a  long  time  with  a  woman,  VI  17,  who  is 
10  years  older  than  he,  and  is  a  beggar,  indescribably  filthy,  and 
mentally  defective.  She  has  spent  most  of  her  life  in  the  poorhouse. 
At  20  she  was  there  and  found  her  mother  and  sister  there  also.  She 
can  neither  read  nor  write.    She  has  never  had  any  children. 

The  third  child  of  Avery  and  Geneva  was  a  girl,  VI  19.    She  was  in 


84  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

the  almshouse  as  a  young  girl  and  later  was  placed  in  a  Children's 
Home.  She  was  discharged  from  the  latter  institution  after  being 
there  but  a  short  time.  As  a  grown  woman  she  was  attractive,  neat- 
appearing,  and  quiet  to  a  casual  observer,  but  she  had  a  career  of 
harlotry  begun  early  in  hfe  and  continued  after  she  married  (at  26) 
VI  18,  an  ignorant,  semi-industrious,  but  well-intentioned  man. 
Soon  after  the  birth  of  her  first  child,  VII  49,  she  was  divorced  on  the 
grounds  of  adultery.  Cohabitation  with  a  vicious  criminal,  VI  20, 
followed  and  by  him  she  had  two  children  one  of  whom  died  in  infancy. 
This  man  was  convicted  of  burglary  and  sent  to  State  prison  for  i  to 
4  years,  and  during  this  time  VI  19  again  became  promiscuous  in  her 
sex  relations.  After  his  discharge  from  State  prison  she  again  con- 
sorted with  him,  then  later  left  him  and  cohabited  with  a  negro  by 
whom  she  had  one  child.  At  the  age  of  39,  VI  19  was  sent  to  jail  for 
ID  days  for  using  indecent  language.  Two  weeks  after  she  was  dis- 
charged she  was  again  arrested  with  her  "husband,"  VI  20,  and  with 
Ulysses,  V  194,  for  the  same  offense  and  sent  this  time  to  the  peni- 
tentiary for  3  months.  At  40  she  was  arrested  for  intoxication  and 
sent  to  jail  for  10  days.  Even  later  in  life,  to  one  who  did  not  know  the 
real  character  of  VI  19,  her  appearance,  bearing,  and  behavior  in- 
dicated a  woman  of  some  refinement.  She  associated  with  a  woman 
much  like  herself  in  appearance  but  yet  of  the  same  low  and  vicious 
traits.  She  placed  two  of  her  children,  VII  49  and  VII  50,  in  a  Chil- 
dren's Home.  Her  last  child  (by  a  negro)  was  taken  by  the  negro's 
people  at  her  death,  which  occurred  at  42. 

One  noteworthy  feature  brought  out  by  Estabrook's  studies, 
is  the  large  amount  of  feeble-mindedness  among  the  Jukes.  The 
children  are  for  the  most  part  retarded  in  school  and  give  evidence 
of  poor  native  ability  aside  from  the  effects  of  their  home  life. 
The  children  brought  up  in  institutions  generally  turned  out 
badly  afterward.  In  general,  according  to  Estabrook,  "one-half 
of  the  Jukes  were,  and  are  feeble-minded,  mentally  incapable  of 
responding  normally  to  the  expectations  of  society,  brought  up 
under  faulty  environmental  conditions  which  they  consider 
normal,  satisfied  with  the  fulfdlment  of  natural  passions  and 
desires,  and  with  no  ambition  or  ideals  in  life." 

Feeble-mindedness  characterizes  the  criminal  elements  of  the 


HERITABLE  BASIS  OF  CRIME  AND  DELINQUENCY    85 

Jukes  family  even  to  a  much  greater  degree  than  the  family  in 
general.  Estabrook  states  he  was  "able  to  study  many  of  the 
Jukes  criminals  of  to-day  and  in  every  case  the  individual  has 
been  proved  without  a  doubt  to  be  feeble-minded.  Willett,  who 
committed  murder;  VI  529,  a  low-grade  imbecile  who  committed 
burglary;  Edgar,  a  rapist;  and  VI  16,  who  committed  assault, 
are  all  mental  defectives,  and  in  none  of  these  has  their  criminal 
record  biased  the  writer  in  diagnosing  their  mentality.  There  is 
no  evidence  in  the  Jukes  which  points  to  the  existence  of  a  trait 
of  criminahty.  Not  all  feeble-minded  Jukes  are  criminal,  but  all 
the  Juke  criminals  that  I  have  known  I  regard  as  mentally 
defective." 

Another  notorious  family  with  a  bad  record  for  criminality 
is  the  Tribe  of  Ishmael  whose  history  has  been  followed  through 
several  generations  by  the  Rev.  O.  C.  McCuUoch.  The  Tribe  of 
Ishmael  lived  in  the  central  part  of  Indiana  where  they  made 
themselves  a  general  nuisance  to  their  neighbors  by  furnishing  a 
liberal  quota  of  petty  thieves,  vagrants,  paupers,  prostitutes, 
and  several  criminals  of  a  more  desperate  kind.  Many  of  these 
people  lived  a  gypsy  sort  of  life  in  the  summer.  A  large  propor- 
tion of  the  pauperism,  prostitution  and  crime  in  the  region  in 
which  this  family  lived  was  traceable  to  this  polluted  stock.  ' '  The 
individuals  already  traced  are  over  5,000  interwoven  by  descent 
and  marriage.  They  underrun  society  like  devil  grass.  Pick  up 
one,  and  the  whole  5,000  would  be  drawn  up.  Over  7,000 
pages  of  history  are  now  on  file  in  the  Charity  Organization 
Society." 

Jorger  has  traced  out  the  remarkable  record  of  the  family  Zero 
which  lived  in  a  Swiss  valley  since  the  beginning  of  the  17  th 
century.  The  family  early  divided  into  three  branches,  two 
of  which  consisted  of  law-abiding  citizens.  The  third  branch 
arose  from  a  man  with  a  taint  of  insanity  who  married  a  vagrant 
and  degraded  Italian  woman.  The  son  resulting  from  this  union 
married  a  woman  of  a  vagabond  German  family  Markus,  by 
whom  he  had  seven  children,  each  of  whom  formed  the  starting 
point  of  a  line  of  degenerate  progeny.    For  three  generations  the 


86  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

descendants  of  these  lines  have  been  paupers,  vagabonds,  thieves, 
drunkards  and  prostitutes.  Mental  defect  was  very  common, 
especially  in  certain  strains,  and  a  considerable  amount  of  syphi- 
lis was  recorded,  and  much  more  probably  occurred. 

From  the  standpoint  of  heredity,  such  families  as  the  Jukes, 
Ishmaelites,  Zeroes,  etc.,  constitute  a  complex  problem.  That 
bad  environment  and  the  evil  influences  of  family  traditions  are 
potent  factors  in  determining  the  degradation  of  these  unfortu- 
nate people,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  But  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  heredity  is  a  factor  of  great  potency  as  well.  Criminality 
may  be  due,  not  so  much  to  the  transmission  of  vicious  propensi- 
ties (although  there  is  evidence  that  vicious  traits  are  trans- 
mitted), as  to  the  inheritance  of  mental  defect  and  general  lack  of 
stamina. 

People  with  good  stuff  in  them  very  often  rise  out  of  their 
vicious  environment,  while  others  under  the  best  of  conditions 
seem  to  take  instinctively  to  evil  pursuits.  We  should  bear  in 
mind  in  studying  degenerate  families  and  their  unfavorable 
surroundings,  that  bad  environment  tends  to  be  created  by  a  bad 
heredity.  Given  stocks  with  an  inheritance  of  low  mentality, 
feeble  inhibitions,  and  more  or  less  mental  disorder,  in  a  few 
generations  such  stocks  would  gradually  sink  into  the  ranks  of 
dependent  or  outcast  humanity,  and  would  soon  develop  tradi- 
tions of  vice  and  immorality  which  would  make  it  especially  hard 
for  an  individual  to  rise  in  the  social  scale.  When  we  consider  a 
single  individual  born  amid  such  unfavorable  surroundings,  we 
might  be  prone  to  attribute  his  shortcomings  to  his  poor  oppor- 
tunities. We  might  be  able  to  point  to  many  cases  in  which 
members  of  degenerate  strains  have  become  worthy  citizens  when 
given  better  chances  for  obtaining  success.  Such  cases,  in  fact, 
are  not  infrequent.  But  this  fact  would  in  no  wise  controvert 
the  assertion  that  heredity  is  primarily  responsible  for  the  condi- 
tion of  these  degenerate  famihes.  Under  the  conditions  that 
prevail  in  our  civilized  society,  there  is  a  general  tendency  for 
families  of  good  inheritance  to  rise  into  higher  ranks,  whatever 
misfortunes  may  have  been  responsible  for  their  inferior  position 


HERITABLE  BASIS  OF  CRIME  AND  DELINQUENCY    87 

in  the  social  scale.  Families  of  bad  inheritance,  although  they 
may  be  endowed  with  wealth  and  social  standing,  tend  after  a 
time  to  sink  into  lower  social  strata.  The  quahties  that  count 
in  the  long  run  are  mental  ability,  energy  and  reliability.  It 
is  in  these  traits  that  the  notorious  families  we  have  been  con- 
sidering have  been  so  conspicuously  lacking.  People  devoid  of 
these  qualities  form  the  ne'er-do-wells,  the  people  who  through 
lack  of  initiative  and  energy  drift  into  a  bad  environment  and 
hence  are  led  into  crime. 

It  is  now  fairly  well  established  that  criminals,  or  at  least  those 
of  them  who  are  sent  to  prison,  are,  on  the  average,  of  subnormal 
mentahty.  Here  and  there,  of  course,  a  man  of  superior  ability  is 
convicted  of  crime.  But  the  men  who  make  up  the  bulk  of  our 
prison  population  and  especially  men  who  have  been  con\dcted 
on  two  or  more  occasions  (and  these  constitute  the  greater  part  of 
our  prisoners)  are  distinctly  below  the  general  level  of  intelligence. 
Dr.  Fernald  states  that  "at  least  25  per  cent,  of  the  inmates  of 
our  penal  institutions  are  feeble-minded."  According  to  Dr. 
Steams  nearly  one-fourth  of  the  population  of  the  State  Prison 
at  Charlestown,  Mass.,  are  mentally  defective.  Dr.  Haines 
reports  that  of  100  offenders  examined  as  they  entered  the  Ohio 
Penitentiary  20  were  mentally  incompetent.  Of  the  homicides 
five-sevenths  were  feeble-minded.  The  same  writer  states  that 
of  33  female  prisoners  of  the  same  institution,  10  were  feeble- 
minded but  all  the  others  were  of  "good  mentality."  H.  B. 
Donkin  states  that  20  per  cent  of  the  prisoners  of  England  are 
feeble-minded.  The  percentage  of  feeble-minded  at  Pentonville 
was  found  to  be  18  per  cent  for  adults  and  49  per  cent  for 
juveniles.^ 

Recently  Dr.  Ordahl  has  made  a  series  of  mental  tests  of  53 
male  prisoners  from  the  penitentiary  at  Joliet,  111.,  selected  in  such 
a  way  as  to  secure  a  fair  representation  of  the  prison  population. 

^  Dr.  Wey  of  the  Elmira  Reformatory  says,  "It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that 
the  criminal  is  naturally  bright.  If  bright  it  is  usually  in  a  narrow  line.  Like  the 
cunning  of  the  fox  his  smartness  displays  itself  in  furthering  his  schemes  and 
personal  gratification  and  comfort." 


88  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

With  the  exception  of  one  man  of  less  than  20  years  of  age,  the  age 
of  the  prisoners  lay  between  20  and  74,  the  greatest  part  being 
between  20  and  30.  In  mental  age,  however,  they  ranged  "from 
that  of  a  normal  child  of  6  years,  to  that  of  a  youth  of  15,  or  what 
is  assumed  to  be  the  normal  adult  intelligence." 

Mr.  Hastings  Hart  at  a  meeting  of  the  American  Prison  Asso- 
ciation in  1913  estimated  that  25  per  cent,  of  adult  prisoners  in 
state  institutions  are  feeble-minded.  Lamb  states  that  45  per 
cent  of  the  yearly  admissions  to  the  Manhattan  State  Hospital 
for  the  Criminal  Insane  are  imbeciles  of  various  grades,  and 
Moore  says  that  40-45  per  cent  of  the  entrants  into  the  N.  J. 
Reformatory  at  Rahway  during  1910  and  the  first  part  of  191 1 
were  subnormal  according  to  the  Binet  tests.  The  last  report  of 
the  Elmira  Reformatory  places  one-third  of  those  received  as 
mentally  defective.  Similar  reports  of  the  low  mentality  of 
criminal  women  tested  at  Bedford  were  made  by  Miss  Weidensall 
who  found  that  the  intelligence  of  these  women  was  considerably 
inferior  to  the  average  intelligence  of  300  working  girls  of  15 
years  of  age. 

Recent  studies  on  the  mental  condition  of  prostitutes  have 
shown,  as  might  have  been  anticipated,  that  a  very  large  percen- 
tage of  these  offenders  are  mentally  defective.^  Havelock  ElUs 
states  that  of  the  "15,000  women  who  passed  through  the  Mag- 
dalen Homes  in  England,  over  2,500,  or  more  than  sixteen  per 
cent  .  .  ,  were  feeble-minded."  In  the  Report  oj  the  Mass. 
Commission  for  the  Investigation  of  the  White  Slave  Traffic,  So- 
called,  it  is  stated  that  "of  300  prostitutes,  154,  or  51  per  cent, 
were  feeble-minded.  .  .  .  The  mental  defect  of  these  154  women 
was  so  pronounced  and  evident  as  to  warrant  the  legal  commit- 
ment of  each  one  as  a  feeble-minded  person  or  as  a  defective 

^  In  the  last  two  or  three  years  evidence  of  the  mental  inferiority  of  prostitutes 
has  accumulated  with  remarkable  rapidity.  Of  recent  contributions  may  be  men- 
tioned McCord,  C.  P.,  Jottr.  Am.  Inst.  Crini.  Law  and  Crimhwl.,  6,388;  and  Train- 
ing School  Bull.,  1915;  Ball,  J.  D.,  and  Thomas,  H.,  Jotirnal  Insanity,  1918,  647; 
Merz,  P.  A.,  Jour.  Am.  Med.  Assn.,  1919,  1597;  Malzberg,  B.,  Eugenics  Rev.  12,  100, 
1920;  Norton,  J.  K.,  Jour.  Delinquency,  5,  63,  1920;  Femald,  M.  R.  et  al.,  A  Study 
of  Women  Delinquents  in  New  York  State,  N.  Y.,  Century  Co.,  1920. 


HERITABLE  BASIS  OF  CRIME  AND  DELINQUENCY    89 

delinquent.  .  .  .     The  135  women  designated  as  normal,  as  a 
class  were  of  distinctly  inferior  intelligence."  ^ 
Dr.  Abraham  Flexner  in  his  valuable  book  on  Prostitution  in 

Europe,  says: 

Characteristic  traits,  external  and  internal,  mark  the  scarlet  woman; 
she  has  a  distinct  gait,  smile,  leer;  she  is  lazy,  unveracious,  pleasure- 
loving,  easily  led,  fond  of  liquor,  heedless  of  the  future,  and  usually 
devoid  of  moral  sense.  Defect  undoubtedly  accounts  for  certain  cases, 
and  especially  so  where  a  psychopathic  family  strain  is  continuously 
impUcated.  Of  21  girls  recently  admitted  into  a  newly-estabhshed 
observation  home  in  Berlin,  5  were  reported  as  mentally  below  par; 
of  Mrs.  Booth's  150  cases  discussed  below,  12  per  cent  were  feeble- 
minded. In  the  case  of  prostitutes  committed  under  the  British  Ine- 
briate Acts,  the  percentage  naturally  runs  much  higher:  in  1909,  out 
of  219  such  immoral  women,  only  70  are  described  as  of  ''good" 
mental  state;  118  were  "defective";  23,  "very  defective";  8,  "in- 
sane"; i.  e.,  aknost  70  per  cent  were  below  normal.  .  .  .  Bonhoffer, 
studying  190  prostitutes  incarcerated  in  prison  at  Breslau,  found  that 
one  hundred  came  from  alcoholic  families  and  that  two-thirds  of  them 
were  mentally  defective — hysterical,  epileptic  or  feeble-minded;  his 
judgment  is  adverse  to  the  existence  of  the  bom  prostitute,  but  in 
favor  of  congenital  defect  as  providing  soil  favorable  to  immorality.^ 

The  association  of  crime  and  delinquency  with  mental  defect 
which  has  been  found  among  adult  offenders,  has  been  made 
strikingly  apparent  in  recent  studies  of  the  mental  status  of  juven- 
ile delinquents.  Kelly  reports  that  the  boys  of  the  Gatesville 
Industrial  School  to  which  boys  are  committed  as  a  rule  only 

'  According  to  Dr.  Davis  of  the  Bedford  Reformatory  for  Women  out  of  647 
cases  in  the  Reformatory  there  were  20  of  insanity,  107  of  feeble-mindedness  and 
193  of  mental  defectiveness  according  to  the  Binet  tests.  The  Portland  Vice  Com- 
mission reported  that  out  of  the  2,500  prostitutes  of  Portland,  25-50  per  cent  were 
mentally  defective. 

2  In  his  monumental  work,  De  la  prostitution  dans  la  ville  dc  Paris,  Parent- 
Duchatelet  remarks:  "Un  des  faits  qui  m'ont  frappe  en  faisant  mes  recherches  dans 
le  Bureau  des  Mmirs  et  dans  les  archives  de  la  Prefecture  de  Pohce,  c'est  la  fre- 
quence des  observations  sur  la  faiblesse  de  tele  et  sur  I'etat  voisin  de  I'alienation 
mentale  attribue  aux  prostituees." 


90  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

after  they  have  been  guilty  of  more  than  one  offense,  show,  when 
tested  by  the  Binet  and  several  other  tests,  a  marked  inferiority 
in  mental  development.  The  proportion  of  feeble-minded  was  20 
per  cent,  "but  probably  at  least  50  per  cent  of  delinquents  are 
totally  incapable  of  being  taught  to  look  after  themselves  in  an 
environment  as  unfavorable  as  the  one  from  which  they  came." 
The  results  of  Ordahl's  investigation  of  the  cases  brought  before 
the  Juvenile  Court  of  San  Jose,  California,  reveal  the  fact  that 
"25  per  cent  of  the  criminal  dependents,  45  per  cent  of  the 
minor  delinquents,  and  75  per  cent  of  the  adult  delinquents  are 
feeble-minded.  If  the  feeble-minded  and  borderline  group  are 
combined,  then  45  per  cent  of  the  minor  dependents  and  60  per 
cent  of  the  minor  delinquents  are  below  average-normal  intelli- 
gence. In  both  the  minor  dependent  and  the  minor  delinquent 
group  60  per  cent  of  the  parents,  so  far  as  data  were  available, 
are  either  alcoholic,  immoral,  feeble-minded  or  insane." 

Ordahl's  study  of  341  delinquent  boys  of  a  school  at  St. 
Charles,  111.,  to  which  boys  are  committed  for  various  offenses, 
reveals  the  existence  of  nineteen  and  six-tenths  per  cent  of 
distinctly  feeble-minded  cases;  20.8  per  cent  were  of  very  dull 
mentaHty  "and  many  of  these  would  probably  prove  on  further 
study  to  be  feeble-minded  ";  15.5  per  cent  were  borderHne  cases, 
the  remaining  44.1  per  cent,  being  of  normal  mentality.  J.  H. 
Williams  finds  that  out  of  215  boys  in  the  Whittier  State  School 
the  distribution  of  intelligence  was  as  follows: 

Feeble-minded 32  per  cent. 

Borderline 21      "     " 

Dull  Normal 27      "     " 

Normal  and  Superior 20     "    " 

Dr.  Haines'  reports  on  the  intelHgence  tests  of  671  boys  from 
the  Ohio  Boys  Industrial  Home,  and  329  girls  of  the  Ohio  Girls 
Industrial  Home,  reveal  much  the  same  condition.  All  the  in- 
mates were  tested  by  both  the  Binet-Simon  and  the  Yerkes- 
Bridges  Point  Scale  tests.     The  proportion  graded  as  feeble- 


HERITABLE  BASIS  OF  CRIME  AND  DELINQUENCY    91 

minded  according  to  the  latter  was  29  per  cent  and  according  to 
the  former  57  per  cent.  Hauck  and  Sisson's  studies  of  201  boys 
and  girls  of  the  Idaho  Industrial  Training  School  show  24.6  per 
cent  of  feeble-mindedness  among  the  boys,  and  35.3  per  cent  of 
feeble-mindedness  among  the  girls.  In  their  study  of  young 
repeated  offenders  Drs.  Spaulding  and  Healy  found  epilepsy  or 
mental  deficiency  in  245  out  of  668  cases  in  which  a  thorough 
study  could  be  made;  152  cases  showed  moral  defect  in  a  preced- 
ing generation  often  combined  with  a  psychopathic  or  neuro- 
pathic inheritance.  Of  the  transmission  of  criminal  traits  as  such 
the  authors  could  find  little  evidence.  An  individual  study  of 
fifteen  cases  in  which  a  peculiarly  criminal  inheritance  was  sug- 
gested convinced  the  authors  that  ''various  physical  or  mental 
factors  are  the  real  inheritance,  and  that  criminalism  may  be 
implanted  on  these  in  successive  generations."  All  told,  the 
indirect  influence  of  heredity  on  criminalism  appears  to  be  that 
in  35  per  cent  there  is  predominantly  a  transmission  of  mental  or 
physical  defect,  and  that  in  9  per  cent  such  inheritance  is  partly 
responsible.  This  makes  a  total  of  44  per  cent  in  which  bad 
heredity  is  indirectly  responsible  for  crime. 

The  percentage  of  mental  defect  reported  among  juvenile 
malefactors  naturally  varies  greatly  in  different  groups,  according 
to  the  basis  upon  which  they  are  selected,  and  the  kinds  of  tests 
applied.  Travis,  in  his  book  on  The  Young  Malefactor  attributes 
the  chief  causes  for  juvenile  delinquency  to  unfortunate  environ- 
mental influences.  While  recognizing  the  importance  of  bad 
heredity,  Travis  opposes  the  views  of  the  ItaHan  positive  school 
in  claiming  that  "  there  are  no  stigmata  of  either  crime  or  types  of 
crime,  but  only  of  abnormality  or  degeneration.  ...  A  study  of 
the  delinquent  with  respect  to  his  physical,  mental  and  ethical 
conditions,  shows  that  at  least  90  per  cent  and  probably  98  per 
cent  of  first  court  offenders  are  normal." 

With  due  appreciation  of  the  value  of  Travis'  studies  of  the 
various  factors  which  contribute  to  juvenile  delinquency,  and 
without  opposing  his  contention  that  these  offenders  fail  to  show 
the  physical  stigmata  of  the  so-called  "born  criminal,"  I  am  by 


92  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

no  means  convinced  from  the  evidence  presented  that  the  delin- 
quents are  as  nearly  normal  in  their  mental  development  as  the 
author  contends.  I  fail  to  find  in  his  volume  any  record  of  the 
appHcation  of  mental  tests,  and  in  fact  there  is  very  httle  discus- 
sion of  the  role  of  mental  retardation  in  juvenile  crime.  This 
omission  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  the  application  of  mental 
tests  has  been  carried  on  for  only  a  few  years.  Under  the  circum- 
stances, and  in  view  of  the  contrary  findings  of  other  investi- 
gators, little  reliance  can  be  placed  on  the  estimate  just  cited. 

The  number  of  boys  and  girls  who  get  into  trouble  through  bad 
home  conditions,  evil  associates,  loss  of  one  or  both  parents, 
and  various  other  unfavorable  influences  is  doubtless  large,  as 
most  students  of  the  subject  have  shown.  While  many  a  boy  or 
girl  of  good  natural  mental  or  moral  qualities  has  been  led  into 
criminal  ways,  nevertheless  a  considerable  proportion  of  the 
conditions  which  predispose  children  to  delinquency  are  indirectly 
the  result  of  bad  heredity.  Intemperance,  vice,  pauperism, 
separation  of  parents,  lack  of  parental  control,  ignorance,  and 
many  other  factors  to  which  juvenile  delinquency  is  so  often 
attributed,  are  very  frequently  the  result  of  inherent  incapacity  or 
defect.  Environment,  as  in  so  many  other  cases,  gets  the  credit 
for  what  in  the  long  run  should  be  laid  to  the  door  of  heredity. 

It  is  probable  that  an  investigation  of  the  men  who  constitute 
our  tramps  and  vagrants  would  demonstrate  a  degree  of  mentality 
much  like  that  in  the  inmates  of  prisons.  According  to  Dr.  C.  H. 
Parker,  "the  Department  of  Education  of  Stanford  University 
tested  two  hundred  unemployed  of  the  migratory  labor  class,  and 
almost  an  even  25  per  cent  were  found  to  be  feeble-minded. 
Binet  tests  made  in  1913  by  the  Economic  Department  of  Reed 
College,  Portland,  covering  107  cases  taken  from  the  unemployed 
army  showed  the  percentage  of  feeble-mindedness  to  be  26." 

Bonhoeffer  has  made  a  study  of  404  individuals  as  they  were 
committed  to  the  central  prison  of  Breslau,  Germany,  for  begging 
or  vagrancy.  The  investigation  was  confined  to  individuals  who 
had  served  repeated  sentences  before  their  prison  confinement, 
the  number  varying  from  6  to  over  60.    These  social  parasites  and 


HERITABLE  BASIS  OF  CRIME  AND  DELINQUENCY    93 

outcasts,  as  might  have  been  anticipated,  were  found  to  be  highly 
abnormal;  22  per  cent  were  adjudged  feeble-minded  and  11  per 
cent  were  epileptic.  Those  of  dull  mentality  were  more  numer- 
ous. As  a  rule  their  schooling  was  very  Hmited.  Many  did  not 
know  the  name  of  the  Kaiser.  Several  who  were  born  in  Breslau 
could  not  tell  the  name  of  the  river  upon  which  that  city  is  sit- 
uated; others  confused  the  Pope  with  the  cardinal  residing  in 
Breslau,  and  for  several,  Prussia,  Germany  and  Europe  were 
synonymous  terms.  Some  also  were  ignorant  of  the  main  points 
of  the  compass,  the  number  of  months  and  weeks  in  a  year,  and 
the  name  of  Bismarck.  However  poor  his  educational  advantages 
may  have  been,  it  seems  improbable  that  a  person  of  normally 
active  mind  could  have  grown  to  maturity  and  remained  ignorant 
of  such  matters  as  these. 

Only  a  small  percentage  were  not  addicted  to  alcohol,  the 
favorite  form  being  brandy.  The  relatively  small  proportion  that 
came  from  the  upper  classes  almost  without  exception  were 
mentally  unbalanced  and  came  from  insane  (9  per  cent),  epi- 
leptic (12  per  cent),  or  alcoholic  (79  per  cent)  parentage.  While 
the  general  morbidity  of  the  group  was  high,  few  were  physically 
unfit  for  labor.  The  majority,  however,  had  been  rejected  as 
army  recruits.  Most  of  them  had  been  from  time  to  time  un- 
skilled laborers  of  various  kinds,  and  a  great  many  originally 
came  from  the  country. 

What  was  ascertained  of  the  inheritance  of  these  men  indicated 
that  a  bad  heredity  was  primarily  responsible  for  much  of  their 
misfortunes.  In  a  half  of  the  cases  there  was  a  direct  alcoholic 
psychopathic  inheritance  from  either  the  father  or  mother. 
Doubtless  more  parental  defect  would  have  been  discovered  had  it 
been  possible  to  secure  reliable  data. 

The  pedigrees  of  paupers,  so  far  as  they  have  been  studied, 
show  a  large  percentage  of  mental  defect.  The  Eugenics  Educa- 
tion Society  in  19 10  appointed  a  committee  to  investigate  the 
families  receiving  poor  relief.  The  investigation  dealt  not  only 
with  those  who  were  poor  through  accident  or  misfortune,  but 
with  those  families  whose  members  showed  a  chronic  disinclina- 


94  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

tion  for  honest  work.  Pauper  families  were  found  to  marry  into 
other  pauper  families,  some  families  even  producing  paupers 
through  several  generations.  The  committee  reported  that  many 
of  "the  paupers  whom  they  had  seen  and  examined  individually, 
are  characterized  by  some  obvious  vice  or  defect  such  as  drunken- 
ness, theft,  persistent  laziness,  a  tubercular  tendency,  mental 
deficiency,  deliberate  moral  obliquity,  or  general  weakness  of 
character,  manifested  by  the  want  of  initiative,  energy  or  stam- 
ina." In  his  discussion  of  the  findings  of  this  committee, 
Whetham  cites  two  families  which  are  described  as  average 
specimens  of  the  results  obtained:  ''Out  of  a  family  of  twelve 
children,  of  whom  four  were  dead,  two  were  in  industrial  schools 
and  one  was  in  the  workhouse.  Both  parents  were  paupers,  all 
four  grandparents,  and,  in  addition,  three  uncles,  one  aunt,  one 
aunt  by  marriage,  three  great-uncles  and  one  of  their  wives, 
two  great-aunts  were  kept  at  the  public  expense.  Another 
branch  of  the  same  family  gave  the  following  results:  An  imbecile 
child  was  found  in  the  wards  of  a  workhouse  iniirmary;  its  pater- 
nal grandfather's  brother  was  a  lunatic,  the  mother's  father  was 
an  insane  epileptic,  her  mother  was  consumptive,  her  maternal 
grandmother  was  probably  consumptive  and  certainly  a  pauper, 
while  the  mother  herself  was  illigitimate  and  subject  to  fits." 

The  history  of  the  Jukes,  the  Tribe  of  Ishmael,  the  Hill  Folk, 
the  Nams,  and  several  other  families  show  that  much  pauperism 
is  a  sort  of  family  tradition  resting  upon  a  fundamental  basis  of 
inherited  defect.  The  bad  environment  among  which  children  of 
such  families  are  usually  raised  makes  paupers,  vagrants  or 
criminals  of  many  who  otherwise  might  have  led  useful  lives. 

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433,  1897.    The  Female  Offender,  Fisher  Unwin,  London,  1895. 
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MacDonald,  A.    Abnormal  Man,  being  Essays  on  Education  and  Crime  with  Di- 
gests of  Literature  and  a  Bibliography.     Gov.  Print.  Off.,  1893.     Man  and 

Abnormal  Man.     Senate  Doaiment  187,  Washington,  1905.     Criminology. 

Funk  and  WagnaUs,  London  and  N.  Y.,  1893.    [Full  Bibliography,  pp.  275- 

408.] 
Mosby,  T.  S.    Causes  and  Cures  of  Crime.    St.  Louis,  1913. 
Ordahl,  G.    A  Study  of  Fifty-three  Male  Convicts.    Jour.  Delin.  I,  1-2 1,  1916. 
Ordahl,  L.  E.,  and  Ordahl,  G.    A  Study  of  49  Female  Convicts,  1.  c.  2,  331-351, 

1917. 
Parmelee,  M.    The  Principles  of  Anthropology  and  Sociology  in  their  Relations  to 

Criminal  Procedure,  N.  Y..  191 1. 
Pollitz,  P.    Die  Psychologie  des  Verbrechers,  2d  ed,  Teubner,  Leipzig  and  Berlin, 

1916. 
Rath,  C.    Ueber  die  Vererbung  von  Dispositionen  zum  Verbrechen.    W.  Spemann, 

Stuttgart,  1914,  pp.  138. 
Rossey,  C.  S.    Report  on  the  First  Three  Hundred  Cases  Examined  at  the  Massa- 
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also,  1.  c.  No.  16. 
Tarde,  G.    Penal  Philosophy.    Boston,  191 2. 
Tamowsky,  P.    Etude  Anthropometrique   sur   les  Prostitutes  et   les  Voleuses. 

Publ.    du  Progres  Medical,   Paris,    1889.     Les   Femmes  Homicides,   Paris, 

1908. 
Weidensall,  Jean.    The  Mentality  of  the  Criminal  Woman.    Warwick  and  York, 

Baltimore,  1916. 
Wigmore,  J.  H.    A  Preliminary  Bibliography  of  Modern  Criminal  Law  and  Crim- 


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inology.      Bull.  No.  i,  Gary  Library  of  Law,  Northwestern  Univ.,  Chicago, 

1909,  pp.  128. 
Wulffen,    E.        Gauner-imd   Verbrecher-Typen.       Langenscheidt,   Berlin,    1910. 
Zampa,  R.    Delia  Comparazione  del  Caratteri  Fisici  dei  Delinquent!  et  non  De- 

linquenti.    Riv.  di  Discipl.  Carcerarie  20,  73-105,  1890. 

DELINQUENCY  AND  DEFECTIVENESS 

Beanblossom,  M.  E.     Mental  Examination  of  Two  Thousand  Delinquent  Boys 

and  Young  Men.    Indiana  Reformatory  Print,  1916,  p.  23. 
Bronner,  A.  F.     A  Comparative  Study  of  Delinquent  Girls.     Columbia  Univ. 

Contrib.  to  Educ,  No.  68,  1915. 
Bridgman,  O.  L.    Delinquency  and  Mental  Deficiency.    Survey,  32,  1914,  302. 
Cowdery,  K.  M.    Analysis  of  Field  Data  Concerning  100  Delinquent  Boys.    Jour. 

Delinquency,  I,  129-153,  1916. 
Crafts,  L.  W.,  and  Doll,  E.  A.    The  Proportion  of  Mental  Defectives  among  Juve- 
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Goddard,  H.  H.    The  After  History  of  Fifty  Delinquent  Girls  Adjudged  Feeble- 

Minded  on  the  Basis  of  a  Binet  Examination  Given  Five  Years  Ago.    Psych. 

Bull.  14,  78,  1917. 
Gruhle,  H.  W.    Die  Ursachen  der  jugendlichen  Verwahrlosung  and  Kriminalitat. 

Studien  zur  Frage:  Milieu  oder  Anlage.    Springer,  Berlin,  191 2. 
Healy,  W.    The  Individual  Delinquent.    Little,  Brown  and  Co.,  Boston,  1915. 
Healy,  W.,  and  Bronner,  A.  F.    Youthful  Offenders:  A  Comparative  Study  of  Two 

Groups,  each  of  1,000  Young  Recidivists.    Am.  Jour.  Sociol.  23,  38-52,  1916. 
Healy,  W.,  and  Healy,  M.  T.     Pathological  Lying,  Accusation  and  Swindling. 

Little,  Brown  and  Co.,  Boston,  1915. 
Hickman,  H.  B.    Delinquent  and  Criminal  Boys  Tested  by  the  Binet  Scale.    Train- 
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Kelly,  T.  L.    Mental  Aspects  of  Delinquency.    Univ.  Texas  Bull.,  No.  1713,  1917. 
Miner,  J.  B.    Deficiency  and  Delinquency.    Warwick  and  York,  Baltimore,  1918. 

(Bibliography  of  228  titles.) 
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Mental  Defectives  in  the  Juvenile  Court,  1.  c.  2,  1-13,  191 7. 
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of  a  Thousand  Cases  of  Young  Repeated  Offenders.     Bull.  Am.  Ac.  Med.,  15, 

4-27,  1914. 
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Law  and  Criminol.  6,  696-705,  1916.    Also  other  papers  in  the  Reports  of  the 

Whittier  State  School,  Whittier,  CaUf. 

PROSTITUTION  AND   DEFECTIVENESS 

Clarke,  W.    Prostitution  and  Mental  Deficiency.    Soc.  Hygiene,  191 5,  1-24. 
Flexner,  A.    Prostitution  in  Europe.    The  Century  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1914. 
Grabe,  E.  von.     Prostitution,  Kriminatitat,  und  Psychopathic.     Arch.  f.  krim. 
Anthrop.  u.  Kriminalitat,  191 2,  pp.  48, 


HERITABLE    BASIS    OF  CRIME  AND  DELINQUENCY      97 

Kammerer,  P.  G.     The  Unmarried  Mother.     (A  Study  of  500  Cases.)     Little, 

Brown  and  Co.,  Boston,  1918. 
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103-107, 191 7. 
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Char,  and  Corr.  41,  222-229,  1914. 

HEREDITARY  FACTORS  IN   PAUPERISM   AND   VAGRANCY 

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land, Oregon.    Jour.  Delinquency,  i,  187-194,  1916. 

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house.   Jour.  Crim.  Law  and  Criminol.  7,  856-866,  1916-17. 

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Co.,  N.  Y.  and  London,  191 2, 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  ABILITY 

"We  inherit  our  parents'  tempers,  our  parents'  conscientiousness, 
shyness,  and  ability,  as  we  inherit  their  stature,  forearm,  and  span." — 
Karl  Pearson. 

We  have  seen  that  feeble-mindedness  and  other  forms  of 
mental  defect  tend  to  be  strongly  transmitted.  Can  it  be  shown 
that  the  same  statement  applies  to  superior  ability?  For  various 
reasons  the  doctrine  that  mental  traits  are  inherited  has  been 
regarded  with  suspicion,  and  has  frequently  encountered  active 
opposition.  Many  writers,  influenced  by  a  theological  or  meta- 
physical bias,  have  been  reluctant  to  admit  that  the  laws  of 
heredity  which  apply  to  the  transmission  of  physical  traits  hold 
also  for  the  mind.  Many  political  and  social  theorists  have  found 
it  convenient  to  minimize  the  importance  of  the  innate  mental 
differences  between  men,  and  have  attempted  to  explain  such 
mental  differences  as  were  only  too  obvious  as  the  result  of 
accidents  of  education,  early  experience,  and  other  circumstances 
external  to  the  individual  himself.  The  doctrine  of  the  equality  of 
man  preached  by  Rousseau  and  his  followers  and  embodied  in  our 
own  Declaration  of  Independence  had  a  tendency  to  prevent  due 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  human  beings  differ  profoundly  in 
their  inherited  mental  gifts.  The  admission  of  such  inheritai.ee 
might  prove  a  dangerous  concession  to  the  claims  of  aristocracy, 
and  it  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  find  such  a  champion  of 
popular  rights  as  Thomas  Paine  contending  against  the  possi- 
bility of  the  inheritance  of  mental  ability.  Writers  of  a  much 
later  period,  though  inspired  by  much  the  same  motives,  have 
expressed  similar  views.  Henry  George,  who,  like  many  other 
socialists,  attempted  to  explain  the  differences  among  men  as 
chiefly  the  production  of  an  iniquitous  social  order,  stated  that 

98 


THE  INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  ABILITY  99 

"The  influence  of  heredity,  which  it  is  now  the  fashion  to  rate  so 
highly,  is  as  nothing  compared  with  the  influences  which  mold 
the  man  after  he  comes  into  the  world." 

The  establishment  of  the  theory  of  evolution,  and  its  applica- 
tion to  the  development  of  mankind  could  scarcely  fail  to  direct 
renewed  attention  to  the  inheritance  of  mental  qualities  in  man. 
Inspired  by  this  doctrine  and  stimulated  by  the  writings  and 
personal  influence  of  his  cousin,  Charles  Darwin,  Francis  Galton 
was  led  to  undertake  those  studies  on  inheritance  by  which  he  has 
since  become  famous.  The  investigations  which  Galton  made 
upon  the  inheritance  of  ability  were  embodied  in  his  celebrated 
volume  on  Hereditary  Genius.  In  this  work  Galton  showed  that 
superior  ability  runs  in  certain  families  to  a  very  marked  degree. 
We  are  all  famihar  with  families  which  are  celebrated  for  the 
number  of  their  great  names:  In  science,  the  Herschels,  Ber- 
nouillis,  De  Candolles,  Darwins  and  Gregorys;  in  literature, 
the  Brontes,  the  Arnolds,  the  Hallams,  and  the  Lowells;  in  music, 
the  Bachs  and  the  Mendelssohns.  It  might  be  contended  that  the 
occurrence  of  such  groups  is  purely  fortuitous.  Even  if  there  were 
no  transmission  of  ability  or  any  other  reason  why  persons  of  the 
same  family  should  become  distinguished  it  would  be  possible, 
from  all  the  great  men  in  the  world,  to  pick  out  a  considerable 
number  of  cases  in  which  two  or  more  men  of  great  ability  hap- 
pened to  belong  to  the  same  family.  Galton,  who  was  too  critical 
an  investigator  to  base  his  case  merely  on  evidence  especially 
selected  to  prove  his  theory,  undertook  an  impartial  statistical 
inquiry  into  the  families  of  eminent  men  in  order  to  ascertain  how 
far  the  data  obtained  would  yield  evidence  of  the  hereditary  basis 
of  great  ability.  Eminent  men  were  classified  into  several  groups, 
judges,  scientists,  literary  men,  statesmen,  poets,  musicians, 
painters  and  divines.  The  basis  for  selection  varied  with  the 
different  groups,  but  was  in  all  cases  made  so  as  to  include  the 
most  eminent  persons  regardless  of  heredity.  Then  the  endeavor 
was  made  to  determine  to  what  degree  eminent  men  in  these 
groups  had  eminent  relatives.  It  was  shown  that  eminent  men 
have  eminent  relatives  to  an  enormously  greater  degree  than  do 


loo  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

ordinary  people,  and  that,  as  a  rule,  the  more  emment  the  person, 
the  more  eminent  persons  are  to  be  found  among  his  near  rela- 
tives. Thus  80  per  cent  of  the  Lord  Chancellors  had  eminent 
relatives,  whereas  only  36  per  cent  of  the  other  judges  were  thus 
distinguished.  Similarly  it  was  shown  that  in  the  families  of  the 
more  illustrious  statesmen  there  is  a  larger  percentage  of  great 
names  than  in  the  families  of  statesmen  who  are  less  eminent. 
In  general,  the  proportion  of  eminent  relatives  of  great  men  is 
found  to  decrease  as  the  relationship  becomes  remote. 

It  is  impossible  in  a  short  space  to  give  an  adequate  summary 
of  the  large  amount  of  interesting  data  which  Galton  amassed, 
and  especially  of  the  able  discussion  of  the  thesis  that  the  facts 
are  explicable  only  by  the  hypothesis  that  great  ability  is  trans- 
mitted in  much  the  same  way  as  are  most  characteristics  of 
organic  beings  in  general.  It  has  never  been  questioned  that 
Galton's  investigations  have  demonstrated  the  tendency  of  cer- 
tain stocks  to  produce  men  of  distinguished  ability.  But  Galton's 
critics  have  maintained  that  this  tendency  is  based,  not  upon 
heredity,  but  upon  the  peculiar  advantages  which  these  families 
offered  for  the  development  of  whatever  talent  they  may  have 
possessed.  A  parent-offspring  or  a  fraternal  correlation  does  not 
in  itself  prove  inheritance.  The  degree  of  education  attained  by 
the  members  of  a  family,  for  instance,  may  depend  upon  wealth, 
family  tradition,  or  a  number  of  other  circumstances  quite  apart 
from  heredity.  A  child  born  in  the  slums,  even  with  the  best 
inheritance,  suffers  certain  very  obvious  disadvantages  as  com- 
pared with  a  child  of  a  Lord  Chancellor.  Mr.  Constable  in  his 
Poverty  and  Hereditary  Genius  which  is  devoted  to  controverting 
Galton's  conclusions,  has  urged  that  for  many  people  the  draw- 
backs of  poverty  are  so  great  as  to  prevent  them  from  ever  gain- 
ing a  reputation  for  distinguished  achievement.  There  is,  he 
claims,  a  large  amount  of  latent  ability  in  the  general  population 
that  awaits  only  the  touch  of  opportunity  to  blossom  forth. 
Similar  views  are  held  by  many  other  writers,  among  the  most 
noteworthy  of  whom  is  the  Nestor  of  American  sociologists,  Dr. 
Lester  F.  Ward. 


THE  INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  ABILITY  loi 

Galton,  however,  did  not  fail  to  ascribe  a  certain  degree  of 
importance  to  environment  in  the  making  of  great  men,  but 
it  is  probable  that  he  unduly  minimized  its  influence.  The 
number  of  distinguished  men  per  century  has  rapidly  increased 
as  civilization  has  advanced  and  as  education  has  become  more 
widely  diffused,  but  we  cannot  maintain  that  there  has  been  a 
commensurate  increase  in  the  amount  of  inherited  ability  in  the 
race.  Great  men  appear  more  abundantly  near  centres  of  learn- 
ing than  in  regions  less  subject  to  the  intellectual  leaven  of 
culture.  It  is  true  that  many  men  born  in  poverty  have  attained 
greatness  only  after  a  long  struggle  that  seemed  to  develop  their 
intellectual  powers  and  force  of  character.  But  there  is  no  way 
of  ascertaining  how  many  others  there  have  been  who  might  have 
achieved  greatness  had  they  received  the  proper  stimulus  for 
developing  their  latent  power,  or  who  may  have  become  discour- 
aged in  their  strivings  by  the  deadening  influence  of  a  life  of  toil. 

Among  people  who  are  financially  able  to  give  their  children 
the  advantages  of  a  good  school  and  college  education,  the 
environmental  conditions  that  tend  to  give  rise  to  greatness  in 
a  country  like  England  are  not  apparently  very  unequal.  Chil- 
dren in  families  with  intellectual  tastes  may  have  a  somewhat 
better  chance  to  become  distinguished  than  if  they  had  a  less 
stimulating  home  environment.  It  cannot  be  assumed,  however, 
that  the  home  of  a  great  man  usually  affords  a  much  better 
nursery  for  genius  than  many  another  home  among  people  of 
intelligence  and  culture.  So  far  as  environment  is  concerned  it  is 
probable  that  the  family  of  an  English  judge  of  the  Court  of 
Chancery  might  be  as  favorable  for  the  production  of  an  eminent 
person  as  the  family  of  a  Lord  Chancellor.  We  might  admit  that 
Galton  underestimated  environmental  influence,  but  his  critics 
have  never  shown,  with  any  degree  of  plausibility,  that  environ- 
ment accounts  for  the  striking  tendency  of  eminent  people  to 
have  eminent  near  relatives. 

Valuable  contributions  to  the  subject  on  the  inheritance  of 
ability  were  later  made  by  Galton  in  his  work  on  English  Men 
oj  Science,  and  especially  in  his  volume  on  Notewoi  thy  Families 


102  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

written  in  collaboration  with  Edgar  Schuster,  the  first  Galton 
Research  Fellow  in  Eugenics  in  the  University  of  London.  Ma- 
terial for  the  Noteworthy  Families  was  obtained  from  answers  to 
circulars  sent  to  all  of  the  Fellows  of  the  Royal  Society  whose 
names  appeared  in  the  Year  Book  for  1904.  Replies  were  re- 
ceived from  207  of  the  467  addressed,  and  as  over  half  of  these 
were  incomplete  in  regard  to  several  members  of  the  family,  the 
inquiry  was  Umited  to  100  of  the  most  complete  records. 

Probably  a  better  selection  could  not  be  made  for  the  purpose 
of  stud}'ing  the  inheritance  of  ability.  The  Fellows  of  the  Royal 
Society  are  very  carefully  chosen  by  the  Council  of  that  society  on 
the  basis  solely  of  distinguished  achievement.  Political  influence, 
financial  status,  or  the  many  other  aids  which  sometimes  place 
men  of  mediocre  talents  in  positions  of  prominence  have  practi- 
cally no  weight  in  the  choice  of  a  man  for  the  honor  of  a  F.  R.  S. 
An  inspection  of  the  list  of  families  with  their  imposing  array  of 
great  names  can  scarcely  fail  to  convince  any  one  that  they 
represent  an  aristocracy  of  ability  of  the  most  noteworthy  kind. 
The  first  family  on  the  list,  the  Balfours,  includes: 

(i)  Arthur  Balfour,  Prime  Minister,  1902,  President  of  the  British 
Association,  1904,  noted  statesman  and  author. 

(2)  Francis  M.  Balfour,  F.  R.  S.,  his  brother.  Professor  of  Animal 
Morphology  at  Cambridge,  brilliant  investigator  in  Embryology, 
and  generally  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  able  and  promising  of 
English  biologists  at  the  time  of  his  early  death. 

(3)  The  Right  Hon.  Gerald  W.  Balfour,  P.  C,  Fellow  of  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  and  president  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  in  i»;o2. 

(4)  Eleanor  M.  Balfour  (Mrs.  Henry  Sidgwick),  Principal  of  Newn- 
ham  College,  Cambridge. 

(s)  Evelyn,  wife  of  Lord  Rayleigh,  F.  R.  S.,  and  mother  of  Robert  J. 

Strutt  F.  R.  S. 
(6)  The  Marquis  of  Salisbury,  K.  G.,  P.  C,  F.  R.  S.,  Prune  Minister, 

Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  president  of  the  British 

Association,  statesman  and  essayist. 

Surely  environment  does  not  explain  the  distinction  of  a  family 
like  this,  or  of  many  others  in  Galton's  list.    The  appendix  of  the 


THE  INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  ABILITY  103 

work  contains  a  list  of  32  noteworthy  fathers  of  38  Fellows  of  the 
Royal  Society. 

One  of  the  most  striking  illustrations  of  the  inheritance  of 
ability  is  afforded  by  the  descendants  of  Erasmus  Darwin.  On 
the  originality,  general  ability,  and  productiveness  of  Erasmus 
Darwin  it  is  not  necessary  to  comment.  Robert  Waring  Darwin, 
his  son,  was  a  distinguished  physician,  and,  like  his  father,  a 
F.  R.  S.  Another  son,  Charles,  was  a  man  of  remarkable  promise, 
and  although  he  died  at  the  age  of  20,  he  gained  the  first  gold 
medal  of  the  iEsculapian  Society  for  experimental  research. 
Charles  Robert  Darwin,  the  author  of  the  Origin  of  Species,  and 
by  common  consent  one  of  the  world's  greatest  men  of  science, 
was  the  son  of  Robert  W.  Darwin.  He  married  his  cousin,  Emma 
Wedgewood,  a  granddaughter  of  Josiah  Wedgewood,  F.  R.  S., 
the  founder  of  the  pottery  works  that  produced  the  famous 
Wedgewood  ware.  Charles  Darwin's  four  sons  became  men  of 
note:  Francis  Darwin,  F.  R.  S.,  a  prominent  English  botanist; 
George  Darwin,  F.  R.  S.,  noted  astronomer,  and  Professor  of 
Astronomy  at  Cambridge;  Horace  Darwin,  F.  R.  S.,  a  prominent 
engineer;  Major  Leonard  Darwin,  author  of  works  on  political 
economy,  president  of  the  Eugenics  Education  Society,  and 
president  of  the  International  Eugenics  Congress.  Finally  must 
be  mentioned  Francis  Galton,  cousin  of  Charles  Darwin,  grand- 
son of  Erasmus  Darwin,  and  an  excellent  illustration  of  the 
hereditary  genius,  the  potency  of  which  he  did  so  much  to  demon- 
strate. 

The  inheritance  of  mental  and  moral  traits  has  been  studied 
by  Pearson  and  some  of  his  colleagues  by  statistical  methods 
similar  to  those  employed  in  the  study  of  the  inheritance  of 
physical  traits.  An  intensive  investigation  was  carried  out  by 
Pearson  upon  from  three  to  four  thousand  school  children.  In- 
stead of  attempting  to  compare  the  mentality  of  parents  and  off- 
spring, Pearson  studied  the  resemblance  in  mental  and  moral 
traits  of  offspring  of  the  same  parents.  The  data  upon  which  the 
comparisons  were  based  were  obtained  from  the  teachers  whose 
judgment  of  the  mental  and  moral  status  of  their  pupils  may  be 


104 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


considered,  on  the  whole,  to  have  a  fair  amount  of  accuracy. 
Various  physical  measurements  of  the  children  were  also  taken, 
so  that  it  was  possible  to  compare  the  resemblance  of  the  children 
in  mental  characteristics  with  their  resemblance  in  physical 
characters.  The  correlations  between  brother  and  brother,  sister 
and  sister,  and  sister  and  brother  for  various  physical  characteris- 
tics averaged  about  .5.  The  fraternal  correlations  in  mental  and 
moral  characteristics  are  expressed  in  the  following  table: 

Resemblance  of  Siblings  in  Mental  Traits 


Veracity 

Assertiveness .  .  .  . 
Introspection.  .  .  . 

Popularity 

Conscientiousness 

Temper 

Ability 

Handwriting.  .  .  . 
Mean 


Brothers 


47 
53 
59 
50 
59 

51 
40 

53 


52 


Sisters 


43 
44 
47 
57 
64 

49 

47 
56 


51 


Brothers 

and 
Sisters 


49 
52 
63 
49 
63 
51 
44 
48 


52 


It  is  certainly  remarkable  that  siblings  should  not  only  resemble 
one  another  in  several  mental  and  moral  traits  to  so  nearly  the 
same  degree,  but  that  the  degree  of  resemblance  should  be  just 
about  the  same  for  both  mental  and  physical  traits.  If  the  fra- 
ternal correlation  for  mental  ability  or  temper  is  about  the  same 
as  the  fraternal  correlation  for  eye  color  and  cephalic  index 
(characters  not  sensibly  influenced  by  the  environment)  we  must 
conclude,  as  Pearson  argues,  that  correlations  in  these  mental 
characteristics  are  due  mainly  to  inheritance.  Of  course  associa- 
tion, similarity  of  home  environment,  and  common  training  may 
tend  to  increase  these  correlations.    If  a  favorable  home  environ- 


THE  INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  ABILITY  105 

ment  is  correlated  with  superior  performance  of  the  student, 
it  does  not  follow  that  the  former  may  not  be  the  result  of  superior 
heredity  on  the  part  of  the  parents.  As  Pearson  remarks:  "The 
average  home  environment,  the  average  parental  influence  is  in 
itself  a  part  of  the  stock  and  not  an  external  and  additional  factor 
emphasizing  the  resemblance  between  children  of  the  same 
home."  Doubtless  this  consideration  which  is  not  sufficiently 
appreciated  by  those  who  would  make  environmental  differences 
all  important,  is  of  much  weight.  We  are  still  lacking,  however, 
an  adequate  measure  of  the  extent  to  which  similarity  of  condi- 
tions may  produce  similarities  in  mental  characteristics.  The 
most  reasonable  position  in  the  face  of  such  evidence  as  we  have 
just  considered  is  that  as  regards  the  traits  in  question,  differences 
in  heredity  are  much  more  important  than  differences  in  environ- 
ment. No  other  position  seems  to  be  easily  reconciled  with  the 
remarkable  similarity  in  the  degree  of  resemblance  between 
correlations  for  physical  and  mental  characteristics. 

How  often  do  we  find  among  children  of  the  same  family 
exposed  to  very  similar  conditions  and  having  practically  the 
same  training,  but  manifesting  the  greatest  differences  in  tastes, 
temperament,  vivacity,  ability,  and  other  mental  traits  I  Nor  is 
it  a  matter  of  common  experience  that  these  differences  become 
notably  lessened  with  longer  association  and  subjection  to  the 
same  environmental  influences.  The  measurements  of  Thorn- 
dike  on  the  performance  of  school  children  who  have  been  asso- 
ciated for  several  years  in  the  school,  showed  that  the  children 
were  quite  as  much  unlike  at  12  to  14  as  between  9  and  10.  Stu- 
dents differing  in  their  abiUty  to  perform  certain  tasks  such  as 
addition  were  given  precisely  the  same  training,  and  then  tested 
again  at  a  later  period.  Those  who  performed  the  task  best  at 
the  beginning  of  the  experiment  performed  the  task  best  at  the 
end,  and  they  stood  relatively  further  ahead  of  the  poorer  ones 
than  at  first.  Equalizing  opportunity  does  not  tend  to  make 
people  equal.  If  the  opportunities  for  development  are  good 
those  with  the  best  inheritance  will  profit  so  much  more  than 
those  with  poor  inheritance  that  the  original  differences  between 


io6  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

them  will  be  considerably  increased.  As  we  have  before  remarked, 
what  environment  can  do  for  a  person  depends  upon  how  gener- 
ously he  has  been  endowed  by  inheritance.  Of  individuals  who 
inherit  well  it  may  in  truth  be  said:  "To  those  that  hath  shall  be 
given."  If  one's  inheritance  is  poor  there  is  nothing  which  this 
world  can  offer  that  will  compensate  for  the  loss. 

Schuster  and  Elderton  have  studied  the  inheritance  of  ability 
by  means  of  biometric  methods  similar  to  those  employed  by 
Pearson.  In  one  investigation  these  authors  worked  out  the 
parent-offspring  correlations  from  data  obtained  by  Heymans 
and  Wiersma  in  their  studies  of  psychical  inheritance.  These 
data  were  secured  by  sending  out  3,000  questions  to  Dutch 
physicians.  Each  questionnaire  contained  ninety  questions 
covering  quite  completely  the  psychical  characteristics  and 
peculiarities  of  the  subjects  described.  Over  400  replies  were 
received,  which  is  a  fairly  good  return  considering  the  detailed 
information  sought  for  in  the  questionnaires.  The  degree  of  cor- 
relation between  parent  and  offspring  was  found  to  vary  consid- 
erably for  different  traits,  but,  after  correcting  for  the  influence 
of  assortative  mating,  the  average  correlations  were  found  to  be 
as  follows:  father  and  son,  .279;  father  and  daughter,  .252; 
mother  and  son,  .194;  mother  and  daughter,  .305.  Considering 
the  way  in  which  the  data  were  collected  and  the  adventitious 
source  of  heterogeneity  in  the  material  the  correlations  show  a 
noteworthy  degree  of  similarity  to  those  discovered  by  Pearson. 

In  another  study  by  Schuster  and  Elderton  the  material  ised 
was  derived  from  scholars  at  Oxford  and  the  boys'  schools  at 
Harrow  and  Charterhouse.  From  the  Oxford  records  a  compari- 
son was  made  between  the  scholastic  standings  of  fathers  and 
sons  who  had  attended  the  University.  Since  1800  the  University 
of  Oxford  had  four  classes  of  honors,  those  graduating  without 
honors  receiving  simply  the  "pass"  degree.  Those  who  attended 
the  University,  but  who  failed  for  one  or  another  reason  to 
graduate  constituted  a  class  whose  scholastic  standing  is  on  the 
average  lower  than  those  who  graduated  without  honors.  Ob- 
taining honors  can  legitimately  be  held  to  offer  a  fair  index  of 


THE  INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  ABILITY  107 

ability.  It  is  quite  well  established  that  high  standing  in  college 
is  correlated  with  success  in  later  Kfe.  Should  it  be  found,  there- 
fore, that  sons  in  the  honor  class  have  a  relatively  large  proportion 
of  fathers  in  the  high  honor  class,  while  sons  of  the  ''pass"  or 
ungraduated  classes  have  a  relatively  large  proportion  of  fathers 
in  these  classes  also,  it  would  offer  strong  evidence  of  hereditary 
differences  in  ability.  The  results  of  the  study  may  be  summar- 
ized in  the  following  table : 

Scholarship  of  Fathers  and  Sons  at  Oxford 

Percentage  of  Fathers 
Sons  Obtaining  Obtaining  First  or  Second 

Class  Honors 

First  class  honors 41.9 

Second  class  honors 40 . 7 

Third  class  honors 33 . 3 

Fourth  class  honors 28.1 

Pass  degree 20 .  i 

No  degree 12.9 

The  striking  feature  of  this  table  is  the  regularity  with  which 
the  percentage  of  high  scholarship  among  the  fathers  decreases 
as  the  scholarship  becomes  lower  in  the  sons.  The  correlation 
coefficients  between  father  and  son  were  .29  or  .31  according  to 
which  of  two  methods  of  calculating  the  coefficients  was  em- 
ployed. The  correlation  coefficient  of  brother  and  brother  was 
somewhat  higher,  viz.,  .405,  due  possibly  to  the  fact  that  methods 
of  instruction,  standards  of  grading  and  other  circumstances 
were  more  nearly  alike  for  brothers  than  for  fathers. 

The  scholastic  records  of  two  secondary  schools,  Harrow  and 
Charterhouse,  were  investigated  by  much  the  same  methods,  but 
owing  to  the  absence  of  data  concerning  the  parents  the  study 
was  limited  to  comparisons  between  brothers.  The  data  which 
were  drawn  from  several  thousand  students  gave  a  fraternal 
correlation  of  .398  which  is  very  close  to  what  was  found  for  the 
students  at  Oxford.  This  correlation  did  not  increase  sensibly 
with  increasing  age  of  the  students. 


ro8  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

The  inheritance  of  arithmetical  ability  has  been  studied  by 
Cobb  who  applied  the  "Courtis  Tests  in  Arithmetic  Series  A" 
to  the  parents  and  children  in  eight  families  of  the  faculty  of  the 
University  of  Illinois.  The  records  were  compared  with  norms 
obtained  by  testing  200  students  of  the  same  institution  of  much 
the  same  degree  of  maturity  and  social  status.  Cobb  studied 
particularly  the  relation  between  the  aptitude  for  addition, 
subtraction,  multiplication,  division  and  copying  figures  in  both 
parents  and  children.  One  individual  may  be  good  in  addition 
and  poor  in  division,  and  the  endeavor  was  made  to  find  if  the 
relative  of  that  individual  would  show  the  same  distribution  of 
aptitudes.  The  results  of  the  study  yielded  considerable  indica- 
tion of  alternative  inheritance  of  the  traits  in  question.  The 
average  correlation  with  the  mid  parent  was  .49,  with  the  like 
parent  .60,  with  the  unlike  parent  .01.  The  numbers  of  individ- 
uals dealt  with  were  too  small  to  yield  results  which  would  be 
convincing  by  themselves,  but  they  serve  to  corroborate  the 
general  conclusions  of  other  investigatiors.  The  studies  of 
Starch  on  the  resemblance  in  the  performance  of  scholars  from 
the  same  family  yield  further  confirmatory  evidence. 

Next  to  Galton's  Hereditary  Genius  perhaps  the  best  known 
investigation  of  the  inheritance  of  mental  traits  is  the  work  of 
Woods  on  Mental  and  Moral  Heredity  in  Royalty.  Members  of 
royal  families  offer  some  peculiar  advantages  for  such  a  study 
since  their  genealogies  are  matters  of  record  to  a  greater  e.rtent 
than  those  of  ordinary  people;  as  a  class  they  are  free  from  the 
struggle  for  livelihood  and  have  usually  enjoyed  educational 
advantages  of  a  superior  kind.  Differences  in  environment 
probably  affect  the  intellectual  development  of  royalty  much  less 
than  that  of  the  majority  of  mankind. 

The  study  of  Woods  embraced  all  members  of  the  royal  families 
of  Europe  about  whom  information  could  be  secured.  Individ- 
uals were  grouped  according  to  their  intellectual  ability  into  ten 
catagories,  number  i  including  those  generally  adjudged  to  be 
imbeciles,  number  10  including  only  a  few  of  the  most  illustrious 
names,  while  the  great  majority  naturally  fell  into  the  intervening 


THE  INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  ABILITY  109 

classes.  A  similar  rating  was  made  of  moral  qualities.  The 
rating  of  the  intellectual  status  of  royalty, — a  very  difficult 
matter, — was  made  on  as  impartial  a  basis  as  possible.  Grades 
9  and  10  included  only  names  occurring  in  Lippincott^s  Dictionary 
of  Biography  and  especially  celebrated  also  on  account  of  high 
intellectual  power.  Judgments  of  biographers  and  historians 
were  relied  upon  for  determining  the  various  grades.  Many 
errors  of  rating  were  doubtless  made,  as  Woods  himself  admits, 
but  it  is  not  probable  that  many  of  the  lowest  classes  were  put 
into  the  highest  classes,  or  vice  versa.  Probably  most  individuals 
in  the  middle  grades  belong  somewhere  near  the  grade  in  which 
they  were  placed.  In  a  statistical  investigation  of  this  sort  if 
most  of  the  judgments  are  approximately  correct  the  conclusions 
drawn  will  be  of  value. 

While  much  e\idence  was  given  of  the  alternative  inheritance 
of  mental  traits,  it  was  shown  that  rulers  of  great  ability  mani- 
fested a  strong  tendency  to  cluster  in  groups.  Such  families 
as  the  Montmorencys,  Condes,  and  the  Houses  of  Nassau-Orange 
and  Hohenzollern  and  the  descendants  of  Gustavus  Vasa  of 
Sweden  present  a  marked  contrast  to  the  House  of  Hanover  and 
several  other  dynasties. 

The  parent-offspring  correlation  based  on  494  pairs  was  .3007 
for  mental  and  .2983  for  moral  qualities.  Offspring  and  their 
grandparents  gave  a  correlation  of  .161  for  mental  and  .175  for 
moral  qualities.  The  results  obtained  by  Woods  are  in  striking 
agreement  with  those  of  Pearson,  Schuster  and  Elderton  and 
other  investigators,  the  agreement  being  all  the  more  noteworthy 
since  the  material  investigated  differs  so  much  from  that  of  other 
studies. 

A  short  paper  by  Woods  on  Heredity  and  the  Hall  of  Fame 
offers  additional  evidence  of  transmitted  ability;  26  out  of  46 
men  in  the  Hall  of  Fame  had  close  eminent  relatives.  "If  all 
the  eminent  relatives  of  those  in  the  Hall  of  Fame  are  counted, 
they  average  more  than  one  apiece.  Therefore,  they  are  from 
500  to  1,000  times  as  much  related  to  distinguished  people  as  the 
ordinary  mortal  is." 


no  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

While  it  is  recognized  by  nearly  all  competent  students  that 
mental  ability  is  inherited,  the  precise  method  of  its  inheritance  is 
not  thoroughly  estabUshed.  Heritable  characteristics  present 
very  different  amounts  of  purely  somatic  or  fluctuating  varia- 
bility and  it  would  seem  not  improbable  a  priori  that  superior 
mental  endowments  depending,  as  they  do,  upon  the  delicate  and 
intricate  organization  of  the  brain  may  be  subject  to  such  varia- 
bility to  an  unusual  degree.  A  child  of  good  ancestry  but  exposed 
while  in  utero  to  the  influence  of  malnutrition,  alcohol,  or  the 
toxins  of  disease  at  the  time  when  the  delicate  architecture  of  its 
brain  is  being  built  up  may  fall  considerably  short  of  its  normal 
expectation  in  intellectual  development.  But  notwithstanding  its 
intricate  structure  and  the  apparent  ease  with  which  the  delicate 
balance  of  its  organization  might  be  upset,  the  nervous  system  is 
reproduced  in  successive  generations  with  a  remarkable  degree 
of  fidelity,  both  as  regards  its  external  connections  and  its  internal 
mechanism.  Possibly  the  fluctuating  variations  in  the  nervous 
system  may  be  in  part  responsible  for  the  fact  that  the  parent- 
ofTspring  and  fraternal  correlations  in  the  inheritance  of  mental 
traits  are  usually  found  to  be  somewhat  below  those  observed 
for  various  physical  characters.  But  there  are  other  reasons 
which  might  plausibly  be  assigned  also.  Although  fluctuating 
variability  may  affect  the  basis  of  mentality  somewhat  more  than 
it  affects  eye  color  or  cephalic  index  it  is  not  sufficient  gretv^ly  to 
obscure  the  facts  of  mental  inheritance,  or  to  reduce  very  mark- 
edly the  coefficients  of  mental  resemblance  between  near  relatives. 

Is  the  inheritance  of  mental  traits  in  accordance  with  Men- 
del's law?  The  question  is  one  of  peculiar  difficulty  since  mental 
traits,  as  a  rule,  do  not  present  the  sharply  definable  and  discrete 
features  that  often  characterize  the  physical  pecuHarities  of  the 
body.  Common  observation,  however,  yields  abundant  evidence 
of  the  alternative  inheritance  of  mental  characteristics.  Almost 
every  family  includes  children  with  different  aptitudes,  disposi- 
tions, and  tastes  that  manifest  themselves  from  early  infancy. 
In  their  mental  characteristics  children  resemble  now  the  father, 
now  the  mother  or  some  grandparent  or  other  relative.     Many 


THE  INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  ABILITY  in 

readers  will  recall  in  this  connection  the  much  quoted  lines  of 
Goethe: 

"Vom  Vater  hab'ich  die  Statur, 

Des  Lebens  ernstes  Fiihren: 
Vom  Miitterchen  die  Frohnatur 

Und  Lust  zu  fabuliren. 

Urahnherr  war  der  Schonsten  hold, 

Das  spukt  so  hin  und  wieder. 
Urahnfrau  liebte  Schmuck  und  Gold, 

Das  zuckt  wohl  durch  die  Glieder. 

Sind  nun  die  Elemente  nicht 

An  dem  Complex  zu  trennen; 
Was  ist  denn  an  dem  ganzen  Wicht 

Original  zu  nennen?  " 

A  number  of  investigators  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
superior  intellectual  ability  as  well  as  a  number  of  special  talents 
are  transmitted  as  recessive  characters.  Hurst  considers  musical 
ability  recessive,  and  Davenport  from  a  study  of  numerous 
family  records  draws  the  same  conclusion  in  regard  to  artistic 
ability,  Hterary  ability,  mechanical  skill,  calculating  ability  and 
memory,  all  of  which  are  held  to  be  ''unit  characters  that  may 
occur  in  any  combination." 

A  careful  consideration  of  the  evidence  adduced  by  Hurst  and 
Davenport  fails  to  convince  me  that  the  traits  mentioned  are 
recessive,  and  I  am  very  decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  they 
cannot  be  considered  as  unit  characters  in  the  usual  sense  of 
this  term.  It  is  not  denied  that  Mendel's  law  holds  for  the 
transmission  of  mental  as  well  as  physical  characteristics,  but  it  is 
not  proven  that  mental  pecuHarities  are  inherited  in  accordance 
with  any  simple  Mendelian  ratio.  Neither  is  the  evidence  satis- 
factory that  superior  ability  of  various  kinds  is  recessive  to  the 
normal  condition.  Such  a  conclusion  is  improbable  a  priori  from 
what  we  know  of  the  transmission  of  mental  defect.    If  feeble- 


112  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

mindedness  of  various  grades  is  recessive  or  partly  recessive  to 
normal  mentality,  and  if  the  lower  grades  of  feeble-mindedness 
tend  to  be  recessive  to  the  higher  forms,  we  should  expect  to  find 
average  ability  recessive  to  superior  ability.  It  is  not  an  easy 
matter,  especially  when  dealing  with  incomplete  records  and  with 
characters  which  (like  musical  and  artistic  ability)  are  strongly 
influenced  by  family  traditions,  to  determine  whether  a  given 
character  is  dominant  or  recessive.  The  test  of  recessiveness  is 
given  if  the  matings  of  parents  both  of  whom  have  the  character 
in  question  produce  children  all  of  whom  inherit  this  character. 
But  this  test  is  never  completely  satisfied,  although  non-conform- 
ing cases  might  conceivably  be  explained. 

We  should  get  much  the  same  results  if  the  character  were 
dominant  and  several  determiners  were  concerned  in  its  produc- 
tion as  in  the  case  of  the  dark  color  of  various  kinds  of  wheat  and 
oats.  On  the  whole,  I  believe  the  inheritance  of  exceptional 
ability  is  best  explained — though  I  cannot  here  give  in  detail  the 
evidence  for  this  conclusion — on  the  assumption  that  it  depends 
upon  many  factors  which  behave  as  dominants  to  those  which 
give  rise  to  ability  of  an  inferior  kind.  The  fact  that  parents  of 
superior  ability  produce,  though  only  occasionally,  offspring 
which,  although  normal  and  healthy,  never  come  near  to  measur- 
ing up  to  the  intellectual  capacity  of  their  parents,  is  quite  in 
accord  with  this  view,  while  opposed  to  the  theory  of  the  recessive 
nature  of  superior  mental  endowments.  Results  of  negro-white 
crosses  yield  confirmatory  evidence  of  the  same  view. 

Perhaps  the  doctrine  that  genius  or  great  ability  is  a  sort  of 
anomaly  dependent  upon  some  defect  of  the  germ  plasm  has  been 
fostered  by  the  rather  prevalent  notion  that  genius  tends  to  be 
associated  with  insanity.  The  doctrine  expressed  by  Dryden  in 
the  lines; 

"Great  wits  are  sure  to  madness  near  allied, 
And  thin  partitions  do  their  bounds  divide, " 

not  only  expressed  a  popular  conviction,  but  the  sober  conclusion 

of  many  scientific  men  who  have  devoted  especial  attention  to  the 
\ 


THE  INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  ABILITY  113 

problem.  So  eminent  an  authority  on  insanity  as  Dr.  Henry 
Maudsley  has  stated,  "It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  there 
is  hardly  ever  a  man  of  genius  who  has  not  insanity  or  nervous 
disorder  of  some  form  in  his  family."  Moreau  de  Tours  who  did 
much  to  bring  the  relation  between  genius  and  insanity  into 
prominence  regarded  genius  as  a  "neurosis,  or  abnormal  exalta- 
tion of  the  intellectual  faculties."  Lombroso,  who  has  written 
most  copiously  on  this  topic,  finds  that  men  of  genius  commonly 
exhibit  neuropathic  traits  indicative  of  a  degenerate  taint,  and 
have  many  peculiarities  in  common  with  the  actually  insane. 
The  foibles,  eccentricities  and  weaknesses  of  men  of  genius  have 
afforded  a  theme  for  almost  endless  comment.  And  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  those  who  contend  that  genius  represents  a  sort 
of  pathological  variation  have  no  difficulty  in  collecting  a  number 
of  instances  which  fit  their  case.  But  a  doctrine  based  on  evi- 
dence especially  selected  to  prove  the  thesis  rests  upon  a  very 
inadequate  basis.  What  most  of  the  writers  who  have  accepted 
this  doctrine  have  done  is  simply  to  collect  all  the  cases  that  they 
could  find  in  which  men  of  eminence  became  insane  or  exhibited 
occasional  eccentricities.  However  extensive  and  imposing  such 
a  collection  of  facts  may  be,  it  really  proves  nothing  if  one  ex- 
cludes, as  is  usually  done,  the  very  numerous  cases  which  do  not 
bear  out  the  theory. 

The  obviously  scientific  method  of  attacking  the  problem 
would  be  to  ascertain  the  percentage  of  insanity  in  a  rather  large 
random  sample  of  people  of  superior  ability,  and  to  compare  it 
with  the  percentage  of  insanity  in  the  general  population  of 
corresponding  limits  of  age.  The  only  writer  with  whom  I  am 
acquainted  who  has  ever  attacked  the  subject  by  an  impartial 
statistical  method  is  Havelock  Ellis  in  his  Studies  of  British 
Genius.  Selecting,  according  to  certain  rules,  1,030  names  from 
the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  he  found  that,  even  when 
slight  or  dubious  cases  were  included,  the  percentage  of  men  and 
women  who  became  insane  was  not  more  than  4.2  per  cent.  A 
study  of  the  parents  of  these  British  men  of  genius  showed, 
contrary  to  Maudsley 's  statement,  that  insanity  could  not  be 


114         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

traced  in  more  than  i  per  cent  of  the  cases.  "No  doubt,"  says 
Ellis,  "this  result  is  below  the  truth,  .  .  .  the  insanity  of  the 
parents  must  sometimes  have  escaped  the  biographer's  notice. 
But  even  if  we  double  the  percentage  to  escape  this  source  of 
error,  the  proportion  still  remains  insignificant." 

A  few  years  ago  without  being  aware  of  the  existence  of  Ellis' 
work,  I  suggested  to  one  of  my  students,  Mr.  C.  A.  James,  that 
he  ascertain  the  percentage  of  insanity  in  chosen  lists  of  great 
men.  Taking  the  men  from  Galton's  Hereditary  Genius  and  a  few 
shorter  lists,  it  was  found  that  pronounced  cases  of  insanity 
occurred  in  less  than  2  per  cent.  Cases  of  slight  neuropathic 
disorders  were  not  included  because  it  was  the  aim  to  employ 
much  the  same  standards  for  judging  people  insane  as  are  em- 
ployed in  collecting  statistics  of  insanity  in  the  general  popula- 
tion. Over  one-fifth  per  cent  of  the  population  in  the  United 
States  are  in  hospitals  for  the  insane  according  to  the  census  for 
1910.  About  one-third  of  this  number  is  discharged  every  year, 
many  of  whom  soon  find  their  way  back  again,  and  since  many 
others  are  cared  for  outside  of  hospitals,  we  may  estimate  conserv- 
atively in  the  light  of  statistics  from  other  countries  that  at  any 
given  time  one-third  per-cent  to  one-half  per  cent  of  the  popula- 
tion is  actually  insane  to  a  degree  that  would  warrant  custodial 
care.  When  we  limit  our  enquiry  to  the  percentage  of  insane  cases 
among  people  within  the  age  limits  in  which  a  reputation  may  be 
gained  for  intellectual  eminence,  the  percentage  of  insanity  would 
naturally  become  several  times  greater.  Then,  if  we  further 
consider  the  number  within  these  age  limits  who  will  develop 
insanity  sometime  during  their  lives  we  will  obtain  a  much  larger 
ratio  still,  but  one  which  may  be  compared  with  the  ratio  of 
insanity  found  to  occur  among  those  who  have  become  noted 
for  their  intellectual  ability.  What  data  we  have  on  the  subject 
indicates  that  insanity  is  rather  less  frequent  among  the  intellec- 
tuals than  the  people  at  large.  Certainly  there  is  a  much  higher 
correlation  between  insanity  and  feeble-mindedness  than  there  is 
between  insanity  and  genius,  unless  we  define  genius  in  such  a 
way  as  to  include  only  those  great  men  who  are  one-sided  or 


THE  INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  ABILITY  115 

eccentric.  If  we  did  so  we  should  have  to  exclude  from  the  ranks 
of  genius  such  men  as  Shakespeare,  Goethe,  Aristotle,  Darwin 
and  many  others  who  occupy  the  very  highest  rank  among  the 
great  men  of  the  world.  It  is  possible  to  find  little  eccentricities 
or  idiosyncracies  in  such  normal  men  as  these,  but  a  similar 
scrutiny  of  the  life  of  almost  anyone  would  reveal  the  same  thing. 
One  of  the  conclusions  arrived  at  by  Galton  in  his  study  of  emi- 
nent men  of  science  was  that  these  men  constituted  a  group 
distinguished  for  physical  and  mental  health. 

One  of  the  circumstances  most  commented  upon  in  discussion 
of  the  inheritance  of  great  men  is  the  fact  that  the  parents  of 
many  men  of  genius  never  exhibited  any  evidence  of  superiority 
which  would  lead  one  to  suspect  that  they  would  give  rise  to  a 
person  of  exceptional  eminence.  And  we  are  reminded  of  Newton, 
Lincoln,  Goethe,  Shakespeare  and  others  who  appear  to  rise  like 
great  isolated  mountain  peaks  out  of  the  level  plain  of  ordinary 
humanity.  Sometimes  it  is  suggested  that  such  men  are  compar- 
able to  the  ''sports"  or  mutations  that  appear  from  time  to  time 
in  plants  and  animals. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  greatness  involves  a  peculiar 
complex  of  qualities  the  lack  of  any  one  of  which  may  prevent 
an  individual  from  achieving  an  eminent  position.  A  great  man 
has  to  do  more  than  simply  exist;  he  must  accomplish  labors 
of  a  particularly  noteworthy  kind  before  he  is  crowned  with  fame, 
and  many  a  man  of  splendid  natural  endowments  has  fallen  short 
of  achieving  greatness  through  some  inherent  weakness  of  char- 
acter or  the  lack  of  sufficient  inspiration  or  driving  force.  Great 
men  not  only  have  to  be  bom  great;  they  also  have  to  achieve 
greatness ;  and  if  they  receive  their  proper  recognition  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world,  greatness  has  to  be  thrust  upon  them  besides. 
Whatever  a  man  may  be  or  do,  his  greatness  as  a  matter  of  fact 
depends  upon  the  position  in  which  the  judgment  of  the  world 
places  him. 

Great  men,  it  is  true,  seem  to  rise  higher  than  their  source. 
Generally  they  come  from  ancestry  considerably  above  medioc- 
rity.   And  I  venture  to  express  the  opinion  that  a  great  man  has 


ii6  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

never  been  produced  from  parents  of  subnormal  mentality.  A 
great  man  is  more  apt  to  arise  if  both  parents  are  of  very  superior 
ability  than  if  only  one  parent  is  not  above  mediocrity.  Where 
the  great  man  appears  to  stand  far  above  the  level  of  his  imme- 
diate ancestors  it  is  due  in  large  part,  I  believe,  to  the  fact  that 
each  parent  supplied  peculiar  qualities  lacking  in  the  other, 
assisted  also  by  qualities  from  more  remote  ancestors  which  may 
have  conspired  to  furnish  the  necessary  complement  of  hereditary 
factors.  In  addition  there  may  be  an  element  of  somatic  varia- 
bility of  a  favorable  kind.  With  the  same  inheritance  two  stalks 
of  corn  may  attain  quite  different  height  due  to  environmental 
factors  that  influence  growth.  Forces  that  affect  the  pre-natal 
or  early  post-natal  life  of  the  human  being  may  influence  his 
development  for  good  or  ill  to  a  considerable  degree.  After  all  it 
may  be  a  relatively  small  thing  that  gives  the  finishing  touch  to 
the  making  of  a  great  man.  Heredity  affords  the  necessary 
foundation;  but  other  things  may  aid  or  check  subsequent  devel- 
opment. One  thing  is  certain  and  that  is  you  cannot  make  great- 
ness out  of  mediocrity  or  good  ability  out  of  inborn  dullness  by 
all  the  aids  which  environment  and  education  or  anything  else 
can  possibly  offer. 

REFERENCES 

Ambros,  R.     Die  Vererbung  psychischer  Eigenschaften.     Arch.  ges.  Psych.  28, 

Lit.  Ber.,  1-33,  1913. 
Boas,  F.    The  Mind  of  Primitive  Man.    Macmillan  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1913. 
Constable,  F.  C.     Poverty  and  Hereditary  Genius:  A  Criticism  of  Mr.  Francis 

Galton's  Theory  of  Hereditary  Genius.    Fifield,  London,  1905. 
De  Candolle,  A.   Histoire  des  Sciences  et  des  Savants  depuis  deux  Siecles.    Geneva, 

1873. 
Ellis,  H.  H.    A  Study  of  British  Genius,  London,  1904. 
Galton,  F.    Hereditary  Genius.    Macmillan  Co.,  London,  1869.    Reissued,  1914. 

English  Men  of  Science:  Their  Nature  and  Nurture.    MacmiUan  Co.,  London, 

1874;  Inquiries  into  Human  Faculty.    Macmillan  Co.,  1883.     (Reprinted  in 

Everyman's  Library.) 
Galton,  F.,  and  Schuster,  E.    Noteworthy  Families.    J.  Murry,  London,  1906. 
Heymans,  G.,  and  Wiersma,  E.     Beitrage  zur  speciellen  Psychologic  auf  Grund 

einer  Massenuntersuchung.    Zeit.  f.  Psych.  42,  81,  and  258,  1906,  and  43,  321; 

and  45,  i,  1907. 


THE  INHERITANCE  OF  MENTAL  ABILITY  117 

Pearson,  K.  On  the  Laws  of  Inheritance  in  Man.  On  the  Inheritance  of  the  Mental 
and  Moral  Characters  in  Man  and  its  Comparison  with  the  Physical  Charac- 
ters. Trans.  Anth.  Inst,  Gr.  Brit,  and  Ireland,  1903, 179-237,  and  Biometrica, 
3,  131-190,  1904- 

Peters,  W.  Ueber  Vererbung  psyohischer  Fahigkeiten.  Fortschr.  d.  Psych.  3, 
185-382,  1915.    Teubner,  Leipzig,  1916. 

Reibmayr,  A.  Die  Entwicklungsgeschichte  des  Talents  und  Genies.  2  Bande, 
Munich,  1908. 

Schuster,  E.,  and  Elderton,  E.  The  Inheritance  of  Ability.  Eugenics  Lab.  Mems., 
I,  1907. 

Starch,  D.  The  Similarity  of  Brothers  and  Sisters  in  Mental  Traits.  Psych.  Rev. 
24,  235-238,  191 7.  The  Inheritance  of  Abilities  in  School  Studies.  School  and 
Society,  2,  608-610,  191 7;  Educational  Psychology,  Macmillan  Co.,  N.  Y., 
1919. 

Thorndike,  E.  L.  Heredity,  Correlation  and  Sex  Differences  in  School  Abilities. 
Columbia  Univ.  Contr.  to  Philos.,  11,  No.  2, 1903;  The  Measurement  of  Twins, 
Arch.  Philos.  Psych.  Sci.  Methods,  i,  1905;  Educational  Psychology,  Vol.  3, 
1914;  Eugenics,  with  Special  Reference  to  Intellect  and  Character.  Pop.  Sci. 
Mon.  83,  125-138,  1913,  also  in  Eugenics:  Twelve  Univ.  Lectures,  N.  Y.,  1914. 

Woods,  F.  A.  Mental  and  Moral  Heredity  in  Royalty.  N.  Y,  1906;  Heredity  and 
the  Hall  of  Fame.  Pop.  Sci.  Mon.  82,  445-452,  1913.  American  Men  of 
Science  and  the  Question  of  Heredity.  Science,  1909,  205-210.  (Remarks  by 
Cattell,  1.  c.  209,  210);  Significant  Evidence  for  Mental  Heredity.  Jour. 
Heredity,  8,  106-112,  1917. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE 

"There  is  no  importance  in  an  increasing  population;  on  the  con- 
trary, if  the  population  of  Europe  were  stationary,  it  would  be  much 
easier  to  promote  economic  reform  and  to  avoid  war.  What  is  re- 
grettable at  present  is  not  the  decline  of  the  birth  rate  in  itself,  but  the 
fact  that  the  decUne  is  greatest  in  the  best  elements  of  the  population. 
There  is  reason,  however,  to  fear  in  the  future  three  bad  results:  first, 
an  absolute  decUne  in  the  numbers  of  EngUsh,  French,  and  Germans; 
secondly,  as  a  consequence  of  this  decline,  their  subjugation  by  less 
civilized  races  and  the  extinction  of  their  tradition;  thirdly,  a  revival  of 
their  numbers  on  a  much  lower  plane  of  civilization,  after  generations 
of  selection  of  those  who  have  neither  intelhgence  nor  foresight.  If 
this  result  is  to  be  avoided,  the  present  unfortunate  selectiveness  of 
the  birth-rate  must  be  somehow  stopped." — Bertrand  Russell,  Why 
Men  Fight,  p.  197. 

"Desire  not  a  multitude  of  unprofitable  children,  neither  delight  in 
ungodly  sons.  Though  they  multiply,  rejoice  not  in  them  except  that 
the  fear  of  the  Lord  be  with  them." — Ecclesiasticus ,  16,  i,  2. 

"Our  remote  descendants  will  probably  cease  to  propagate." — 
Godwin,  Political  Justice,  II,  p.  528. 

One  of  the  most  striking  features  of  the  recent  biological 
history  of  man  is  the  decline  in  the  birth  rate  which  has  occurred 
in  most  civilized  countries  since  the  middle  of  the  19  th  century. 
The  decline  began,  however,  at  different  dates  in  different  coun- 
tries. In  France  it  set  in  during  the  first  part  of  the  last  century. 
In  England  and  Germany  it  was  not  marked  before  the  latter 
quarter  of  that  century.  In  Russia  and  the  Balkan  States  it  still 
continues  high,  Bulgaria  even  showing  a  slight  increase  in  the 
birth  rate  in  recent  years.  The  general  facts  in  regard  to  the 
changes  in  the  birth  rate  in  Europe  may  be  seen  by  consulting 
the  following  table: 


118 


THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE 


119 


Table  of  the  Annual  Births  per  1000  of  the  Population  for  Several  Coun- 
tries of  Europe 


1 
England  and 
Wales 

1 

8 

C/2 

-a 

8 
til 

c 

s 

1-1 
u 

0 

.3 

■4-> 
< 

be 

a 

h- 1 

0 

c 
-a 

CO 

.=3 
Pi 

.3 

a 

pq 

1871-76 

■   3S-S 

350 

27-4 

25-5 

38.9 

39-3 

42.8 

36.9 

30.2 

30.7 

50.3 

32.6 

36.1 

1876-80 

■   35 

4 

34-8 

25-7 

253 

39-2 

38 

7 

44 

I 

37 

0 

31-7 

30-3 

48.4 

32.0 

36-4 

1881-85 

••    33 

5 

33-3 

24.0 

24.7 

37-0 

38 

I 

44 

6 

37 

8 

31-2 

29.4 

49.2 

36.7 

30.9 

34-8 

1886-90 

•■    31 

4 

31-4 

22.8 

23.1 

36. 5 

37 

6 

43 

7 

37 

3 

30.8 

28.8 

48.7 

36 

2 

29.4 

33-6 

1891-95 

••    30 

5 

30-5 

22.9 

22.4 

36.3 

37 

3 

42 

0 

35 

9 

30-3 

27.4 

48.2 

35 

8 

29.1 

329 

1896-00 

..    29 

2 

30.0 

23-1 

22.0 

36.0 

37 

0 

39 

7 

33 

9 

30-3 

26.9 

49-4 

34 

6 

29.0 

32.2 

I90I... 

.    28 

5 

29-5 

22.7 

22.0 

35-7 

36 

8 

37 

8 

32 

5 

29.6 

27.0 

48.0 

34 

9 

29.4 

32.3 

1905... 

■    27 

3 

28.6 

23-4 

20.6 

33-0 

34 

0 

36 

I 

32 

7 

27.4 

25-7 

44.8 

35 

2 

26.2 

30.8 

I9I0... 

•    25 

I 

26.2 

233 

19.6 

29.8 

32 

6 

35 

7 

33 

3 

26.1 

24.7 

33 

I 

23.8 

28.6 

I9I2... 

•    23 

8 

25-9 

23.0 

19.0 

28.2 

31 

2 

36 

2 

32 

4 

25-8 

23-7 

31 

5 

23.2 

28.1 

I9I3"- 

■    24 

I 

25.5 

22.8 

18.8 

27.4 

29 

6 

31 

7 

25-4 

23.1 

30 

3 

28.2 

1914.... 

•    23 

8 

26.1 

22.6 

18.0 

31 

I 

25-3 

22.8 

29 

6 

iQiS---  • 

.    21 

8 

239 

21.8 

23-8 

21.6 

There  are  no  statistics  on  the  birth  rate  of  the  United  States  as 
a  whole.  A  few  states  have  kept  records  of  births  for  several 
years,  but  they  have  been  admittedly  incomplete,  although  in 
general  they  are  improving.  From  various  sources,  however,  it  is 
evident  that  the  birth  rate  in  this  country  is  declining  at  a  rate 
quite  comparable  to  that  of  the  more  civilized  nations  of  Europe. 
Even  with  our  enormous  immigration  the  increase  in  the  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States  has  fallen  far  short  of  what  it  was  pre- 
dicted to  be  by  the  statisticians  of  a  half  century  ago  who  based 
their  estimates  on  the  rate  of  natural  increase  existing  at  that 
time. 

Since  we  know  the  number  of  immigrants  annually  entering 
the  country,  we  can  estimate  the  proportion  of  our  population 
that  results  from  natural  increase,  and  we  can,  therefore,  form  a 
rough  estimate  of  the  general  birth  rate.  The  United  States 
census,  while  it  gives  no  statistics  on  birth  rates,  enumerates 
the  number  of  children  under  five  years  of  age.    The  diminishing 


I20  THE  TREND  OF  TPIE  RACE 

number  of  individuals  in  this  group  forms  a  rough  indication  of 
the  declining  birth  rate.  This  decline  is  indicated  by  the  following 
table  compiled  by  Professor  Willcox,  ^  giving  the  number  of  chil- 
dren under  five  years  of  age  for  every  i,ooo  women  between  the 
ages  of  1 6  and  44: 

Decreasing  Proportion  of  Children  in  the  United  States 

Number  of  Children  under  5 
Date  per  1,000  Women 

16-44  Years  of  Age 

1800 976 

1810 976 

1820 928 

1830 877 

1840 835 

1850 699 

i860 714 

1870 649 

1880 635 

1890 554 

1900 541 

1910 508 

It  has  been  calculated  by  Professor  Willcox  that  if  this  rate  of 
diminution  continues  for  a  century  and  a  half  there  will  be  no 
more  children  produced.  The  proportion  of  children  here  indi- 
cated would  naturally  be  affected  by  foreign  immigration  which 
consists  largely  of  adults.  This  would  tend  to  decrease  the 
relative  proportion  of  children,  but  the  large  number  of  foreign 
women  among  these  immigrants  who  are  of  child-bearing  age, 
would  tend  in  a  few  years  to  make  the  number  of  children  in- 
crease. In  other  words,  if  foreign  immigration  were  checked  the 
proportion  of  children  might  not  after  all  be  greatly  reduced,  if 
at  all. 

During  the  past  few  centuries,  and  especially  in  the  19th  cen- 
^  Pubs.  Am.  Stat.  Ass.  15,  1-15,  1916 


THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE  i2i 

tury,  the  population  of  most  civilized  countries  has  considerably, 
and  in  some  cases  very  greatly  increased.  The  population  of 
England  and  Wales  between  1801  and  191 1  has  more  than  quad- 
rupled; that  of  Scotland  has  nearly  trebled.  In  the  60  years 
between  1851  and  191 1  the  population  in  Russia  has  increased 
from  55,818,000  to  105,651,000;  in  Austria  from  17,525,000,  to 
28,568,000;  in  Hungary  from  13,192,000,  to  20,851,000  and  in 
Prussia  from  16,935,000  to  40,163,000.  Of  all  countries  on  the 
continent  of  Europe,  France  has  shown  the  slowest  rate  of  in- 
crease, and  in  late  years  the  population  has  been  nearly  station- 
ary. Ireland  since  185 1  has  suffered  an  actual  decrease  of  popu- 
lation owing  largely  to  the  low  birth  rate  and  the  extensive 
migration  of  her  people  to  America. 

The  rapid  increase  in  the  population  of  the  United  States  is 
due  to  the  circumstances  that  produce  a  rapid  increase  in  most 
new  countries  which  have  been  opened  up  to  settlement  by  the 
white  race.  The  early  settlers,  being  generally  of  a  hardy  and 
prolific  stock,  living  for  the  most  part  under  wholesome  condi- 
tions, increased  at  an  unusually  rapid  rate.  Their  numbers  being 
continually  augmented  by  a  rapidly  increasing  flow  of  immigrants 
produced  in  a  few  centuries  one  of  the  most  populous  nations  of 
the  earth.  In  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  in  which  we  meet  with 
conditions  more  or  less  similar  to  those  found  in  the  United  States, 
there  has  been  a  similar  rapid  increase  of  population,  but  owing 
to  a  more  discriminating  control  of  immigration  the  stock  has 
remained  of  a  more  homogeneous  character. 

The  two  chief  factors  in  the  increase  of  population  in  most 
civilized  countries  are  (i)  the  great  industrial  development 
whereby  countries  are  able  to  support  a  much  larger  number  of 
people  than  formerly,  and  (2)  the  gradual  reduction  in  the  rate 
of  mortality  which  has  been  effected  through  advances  in  medi- 
cal science,  and  especially  hygiene.  Aside  from  gains  or  losses 
through  migration,  the  changes  that  occur  in  the  number  of 
inhabitants  of  any  country  depend  upon  the  relative  proportion 
of  births  and  deaths.  Notwithstanding  the  decline  in  the  birth 
rate,  the  natural  increase  of  several  countries  is  higher  than  it  was 


122  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  birth  rate 
has  not  decreased  so  rapidly  as  the  death  rate. 

In  all  countries  increase  of  population  has  sooner  or  later  to 
come  to  a  standstill.  For  a  while  the  surplus  humanity  may  find 
an  outlet  by  emigrating  into  new  territory.  Increased  means  of 
production  may  for  a  while  keep  pace  with  the  growing  numbers 
of  inhabitants.  But  in  time,  growth  of  population  must  bring 
about  its  own  check. 

While  we  must  all  recognize  this  fact,  the  "population  ques- 
tion" does  not  seem  so  portentous  as  it  did  several  years  ago. 
The  Malthusian  doctrine,  with  its  inevitable  tendency  of  human- 
ity to  increase  beyond  the  means  of  sustenance  and  its  various 
checks  to  increase,  such  as  war,  pestilence  and  famine,  seemed  to 
promise  Httle  but  a  gloomy  future  of  struggle  and  hardship  for 
the  majority  of  mankind.  It  is  now  becoming  probable,  however, 
that  the  automatic  checks  will  not  depend  so  much  upon  the 
increase  of  the  death  rate  as  the  decrease  of  the  birth  rate.  There 
is  no  longer  ground  for  fearing  the  scourges  that  seemed  to  be  the 
inevitable  consequence  of  a  natural  law  of  propagation.  There  is 
perhaps  more  reason  to  be  apprehensive  lest  the  race  should  fail 
to  reproduce  itself. 

For  most  countries  there  is  no  immediate  danger  of  race  suicide, 
although  it  may  very  well  happen  that  we  shall  need  to  be 
seriously  concerned  in  the  future  over  this  possibility.  The 
birth  rate  in  some  countries  has  shown  a  continually  accelerating 
descent.  In  Germany  during  the  first  ten  years  of  the  20th  cen- 
tury the  birth  rate  fell  more  than  in  the  preceding  thirty.  The 
decline  has  been  especially  rapid  in  the  cities,  the  fall  in  Berlin 
being  more  rapid  than  the  fall  of  the  death  rate. 

Notwithstanding  the  rapid  increase  in  the  population  of 
Germany,  there  are  several  German  writers  who  have  already 
sounded  the  note  of  alarm  lest  the  rapidly  falling  birth  rate  prove 
a  serious  menace  to  the  welfare  of  the  empire.  As  Borntrager  has 
remarked,  "The  ever  more  rapid  and  more  intensive  and  exten- 
sive decline  in  the  birth  rate  which  has  been  deliberately  brought 
About  in  Germany,  is  one  of  the  most  threatening  occurrences  of 


THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE  123 

modem  times,  and  one  which  must  be  absolutely  stopped  at  the 
earliest  moment  if  we  do  not  slowly  but  surely  go  to  destruction." 
Germany,  however,  is  apparently  in  no  greater  danger  of  race 
suicide  than  several  of  her  rivals.  It  is  from  France  that  we  hear 
the  greatest  lamentations  over  decreasing  fecundity,  because  the 
danger  to  national  security  from  this  source  is  imminent.  ^^Doit 
elle  mourir?^'  "  Le  suicide  d'un  race,^''  "Le  Probleme  de  la  depopu- 
lation" are  the  titles  of  some  of  the  recent  publications  whose 
names  are  suggestive  of  the  pessimistic  tone  of  their  contents. 
Whether  the  population  of  France  will  slowly  decrease,  no  one 
can  say.  For  the  sake  of  the  world  as  well  of  France  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  some  way  will  be  found  to  check  this  decline  in  the 
birth  rate  of  a  people  who  have  contributed  so  much  to  the 
advancement  of  civilization. 

Other  nations  are  rapidly  approaching  the  birth  rate  of  France, 
but  if  their  fecundity  does  not  sink  below  what  is  necessary  to 
maintain  their  population  there  is  nothing  to  regret  in  this  fact. 
When  the  world  becomes  as  full  of  people  as  it  can  well  support, 
it  would  indeed  be  a  great  misfortune  for  the  birth  rate  to  con- 
tinue high.  When  the  globe  is  supporting  its  maximum  popula- 
tion the  number  would  have  to  be  kept  within  bounds  either  by 
increased  mortality,  or  by  decreased  fecundity,  and  the  latter 
method  is  certainly  the  less  disagreeable. 

The  chief  defense  that  is  made  of  the  former  method  with  all 
the  misery  it  entails,  is  that  it  affords  an  indispensable  means  of 
racial  advance.  In  all  ages  the  pressure  of  population  with  its 
consequent  tendency  of  peoples  to  overflow  their  boundaries  has 
been  a  potent  cause  of  war, — in  fact  it  has  made  war  almost 
inevitable.  It  may  be  urged  with  much  reason  that  the  birth  rate 
of  superior  peoples  should  be  kept  high  in  order  that  they  may 
conquer  and  supplant  inferior  types.  The  effect  of  such  conflict 
under  modern  conditions  would  be  to  lead,  through  the  elimina- 
tion or  amalgamation  of  subject  peoples,  to  an  eventual  domin- 
ance of  a  comparatively  homogenous  race.  When  this  point  is 
reached  conflict  between  political  groups  of  much  the  same  blood 
would  have  much  less  biological  significance  than  it  has  to-day. 


124  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  dominant  tendencies  at  the  present 
time  are  in  the  direction  of  racial  uniformity  rather  than  diver- 
gence, and  that  whether  nations  remain  at  peace  or  engage  in  war 
the  process  of  unification  will  still  go  on.  The  ultimate  result  in 
any  case  will  depend  largely  on  the  relative  birth  rates  of  superior 
and  inferior  types.  The  racial  character  of  the  survivors  will 
doubtless  be  influenced  according  as  the  final  unification  will  be 
effected  forcibly  or  peaceably,  but  which  outcome  would  be  the 
more  desirable  from  the  eugenic  standpoint  is  by  no  means  a 
simple  problem.  Conflict  may  be  defended  as  a  means  of  insuring 
the  predominance  of  the  best  racial  elements.  Whether  or  not  it 
will  do  so,  or  whether  it  is  the  only  or  the  best  method  of  attaining 
this  end  is  a  complex  question,  which  I  shall  not  attempt  to  dis- 
cuss here.  Nor  is  it  my  intention  to  touch  upon  the  difficult 
ethical  and  political  aspects  of  the  effort  to  maintain  a  high  birth 
rate,  which  characterizes  the  poHcy  of  miHtaristic  nations.  Cer- 
tain it  is  that  a  high  birth  rate  with  the  temptations  which  it 
brings  for  nations  to  overflow  their  boundaries  and  encroach  upon 
neighboring  territories  has  led  to  frequent  wars  in  the  past,  and 
will  doubtless  continue  to  be  a  source  of  strife  in  the  future.  The 
different  rates  of  increase  of  different  nations  are  bound  to 
bring  many  difficult  situations  whose  adjustment  will  seriously 
tax  the  resources  of  those  who  would  maintain  the  peace  of  the 
world.  ^ 

A  most  important  feature  of  the  decline  of  the  birth  rate  is  the 
fact  that  the  fecundity  of  different  classes  of  people  is  very 
unequally  affected.  In  the  United  States  we  have  a  marked 
decline  of  the  birth  rate  among  people  of  American  parentage, 
while  the  immigrants  who,  up  to  the  period  of  the  present  war 
have  been  arriving  on  our  shores  in  ever  increasing  numbers, 
Still  continue  to  produce  large  families.  Owing  to  the  general 
lack  of  birth  statistics  in  the  United  States,  estimates  must  be 
based  upon  the  age  distribution  of  the  population  at  different 
decades,  and  the  birth  statistics  from  a  few  states  in  which  birth 

^  As  Prof.  Ross  has  remarked,  "The  real  enemy  of  the  dove  of  peace  is  not  the 
eagle  of  pride  or  the  vulture  of  greed,  but  the  stork." — Changing  America. 


THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE  125 

registration  has  recently  become  compulsory  and  a  few  special 
investigations  relative  to  this  subject. 

In  Rhode  Island  in  1905,  82.5  per  cent  of  foreign  born  married 
women  were  mothers  (15.5  per  cent  childless),  while  in  the  native 
American  wives  71.6  per  cent  were  mothers  (28.4  per  cent 
childless).  The  average  number  of  children  born  to  foreign  born 
married  women  was  3.35,  while  the  average  number  among  native 
born  married  women  was  2.06.  Since  1885  the  average  number  of 
children  per  foreign  born  married  woman  decreased  from  4.69  to 
3.35,  or  28.6  per  cent  while  the  average  number  per  native  born 
married  woman  fell  from  2.81  to  2.06,  or  26.7  per  cent. 

In  Massachusetts  in  1900-1905  there  were  143  births  per  1,000 
foreign  born  women  of  15-44  years,  while  among  native  born 
women  of  the  same  age  limits  there  were  only  63  births.  Mr. 
A.  H.  Young  finds  in  New  Hampshire  a  situation  very  similar  to 
what  occurs  in  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island.  At  ages  under 
20  years  the  birth  rate  of  foreign  born  wives  exceeded  that  of 
native  born  by  only  about  one-fourth,  but  at  ages  from  25  to  34 
years  the  birth  rate  of  foreign  born  wives  was  over  double  that 
of  the  native  wives.  The  birth  rates  of  married  women  of  child- 
bearing  ages  are  shown  in  the  following  table  taken  from  data  of 
the  U.  S.  Census: 


Fecundity  of  Women  in  New  Hampshire 

i8go 

IQOO 

Native  white  married  women.  ic;-4.t;  vears 

35,717 
3,575 

lO.O 

11,793 

2,759 

234 

36,829 

3,985 
10.8 

Children  under  i  year  from  native  bom  mothers 

Per  cent 

Foreign  born  white  married  women,  15-45  years 

Children  under  i  year  from  foreign  born  mothers 

Per  cent 

16,093 

4,054 
25.2 

The  state  registration  statistics  give  the  average  annual 
number  of  births  per  thousand  married  women  of  15-45  years 
from  1898-1902  as  115.3  for  the  native  born  women,  and  236.8 
for  the  foreign  born  women.    The  presence  of  a  large  French- 


126 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


Canadian  element  (50  per  cent  of  the  foreign  bom)  tends  to  raise 
the  birth  rate  of  the  foreign  born  population.  In  their  report  on 
infant  mortahty  in  Manchester,  N.  H.,  in  1914,  Duncan  and 
Duke  state  that,  "although  foreign  born  constitute  only  about 
42  per  cent  of  the  total  population,  foreign  born  mothers  give 
birth  to  67  per  cent  of  the  1,643  infants."  In  New  York  City, 
according  to  the  report  of  the  New  York  Department  of  Health 
for  1909,  the  birth  rate  per  thousand  of  native  bom  women  is 
28.26,  while  for  an  equal  number  of  foreign  bom  women  it  is 
109.46,  or  nearly  four  times  as  large. 

Hoffmann  finds  from  a  study  of  a  number  of  genealogies  of 
American  famihes,  that  the  average  number  of  children  per  family 
sank  from  nearly  7  in  the  i8th  century  to  nearly  5  in  the  first  half 
of  the  19th  century,  and  further  decreased  to  less  than  3  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  19th  century.  The  studies  of  Crum  have  yielded 
additional  evidence  of  much  the  same  character.  A  study  was 
made  of  the  genealogical  records  of  22  American  families  contain- 
ing 12,722  wives  and  61,115  children.  The  chief  results  are  sum- 
marized in  the  following  table : 


The  Decreasing  Size  of  American  Families 


Before 
1700 

i-joo-4g 

1750-99 

1800-49 

1850-69 

1870-79 

No.  of  children  per  wife 

7-37 

6.83 

6.43 

4-94 

3-47 

2.77 

Percentage  of  childless  wives .  . 

1. 81 

1-74 

1.88 

4.07 

591 

8.10 

Mothers  with  6-9  children .... 

50.36% 

42.89% 

40.50% 

29.17% 

15-71 

8.57 

Mothers  with  only  i  child 

1.81% 

4-11% 

4.98% 

7.96% 

13-98% 

18% 

Average  age  of  marriage 

21.4 

21.7 

22. 

22.3 

22.9 

23.1 

The  families  whose  records  are  included  in  published  gene- 
alogies represent  the  older  American  stock  which  may  be  repro- 
ducing more  slowly  than  that  of  more  recent  native  Americans. 
Benjamin  Franklin  estimated  the  average  number  of  children  in 
an  American  family  in  the  iSth  century  at  7,  and  from  the  study 
of  a  number  of  genealogies  I  have  arrived  at  approximately  the 
same  result. 


THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE  127 

It  is  unfortunate  that  the  data  collected  by  the  Censuses  of 
1890,  1900  and  1 9 10  on  the  relative  fecundity  of  native  and 
foreign  stocks  have  never  been  completely  tabulated.  The 
Immigration  Commission  has  made  an  analysis  of  a  part  of  these 
data  from  certain  fairly  representative  regions  of  the  country. 
The  returns  used  were  taken  from  the  Census  of  1900.  For 
purposes  of  comparison  a  somewhat  arbitrary  measure  of  fecun- 
dity was  employed,  namely,  the  number  of  children  of  women 
who  had  been  married  from  ten  to  twenty  years.  Of  these  there 
were  78,432.  These  comprise  women  from  various  sections  of  the 
country  both  urban  and  rural.  The  regions  studied  included  the 
state  of  Rhode  Island,  the  cities  Cleveland,  0.,  and  Minneapolis, 
48  mainly  rural  counties  of  Ohio,  and  21  mainly  rural  counties 
of  Minnesota.  In  general  the  women  of  native  white  parentage 
had  2.7  children,  while  those  of  foreign  parentage  had  4.4.  The 
women  of  foreign  parentage  were  divided  into  2  classes,  (i)  those 
who  migrated  to  this  country,  and  (2)  those  both  of  whose  parents 
were  immigrants,  parents  of  mixed  native  and  foreign  blood  not 
being  considered.  Of  the  first  class  the  average  number  of  chil- 
dren was  4.7,  while  that  of  the  second  was  3.9,  the  second  genera- 
tion of  the  foreign  born  showing  a  diminution  of  fecundity  though 
retaining  a  higher  birth  rate  than  the  women  of  native  American 
stock.  The  percentage  with  no  children  was,  foreign  born  first 
generation,  5.3  per  cent,  foreign  born  second  generation,  6.3  per 
cent,  native  born  white  13. i  per  cent,  negroes  20.5  per  cent. 
Notwithstanding  the  high  percentage  of  childless  wives  among 
the  negroes,  the  average  number  of  children,  3.1,  was  greater  than 
that  of  the  native  white  American.  Both  native  and  foreign 
women  were  found  to  be  considerably  more  prolific  in  the  rural 
districts  than  in  the  cities. 

The  fertility  of  foreign  bom  women  varied  markedly  according 
to  their  nationality.  This  may  be  seen  by  consulting  the  follow- 
ing table  giving  the  average  number  of  children  per  each  wife  of 
foreign  extraction: 


128 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


Fertility  of  Foreign  Born  Stocks  in  the  United  States 


Italians 4 

Bohemians 5 

Finns 5 

Russians 5 

French-Canadians .  5 

English-Canadians .  3 

Poles 6 


9  Norwegians 4 

Austrians 4 

3  French 4 

4  Germans 4 

6  Irish 4 

5  Swedes 4 

2  Scotch 3 

EngUsh 3 


The  peoples  from  southern  and  central  Europe  show  a  higher 
fecundity  than  those  from  Great  Britain  and  the  northern  part 
of  the  continent.  For  most  cases  this  is  true  of  the  second  genera- 
tion of  foreigners  as  well  as  the  first.  Mr.  Hill  who  worked  over 
the  data  referred  to  grants  that  in  the  southern  states  the  families 
of  the  American  born  may  be  of  larger  size.  It  is  questionable, 
however,  if  they  would  be  enough  larger  to  make  good  the  losses 
through  death. 

When  we  consider  that  with  our  present  death  and  marriage 
rates  nearly  four  children  per  married  couple  are  required  to 
replace  the  preceding  generation,  we  are  compelled  to  conclude 
that,  taken  as  a  whole,  the  stock  represented  by  American  bom 
parents  is  probably  not  reproducing  itself.  It  is  the  aliens  and 
their  immediate  children  who  are  responsible  for  the  increase  of 
our  population.  If  these  were  deducted  from  our  numbers  we 
would  probably  see  that  the  population  of  the  United  States 
would  show  an  actual  decrease.  Among  the  people  we  commonly 
call  Americans  race  suicide  would  probably  be  found  to  be  con- 
siderably more  rapid  than  in  France. 

We  are  losing  such  stock  as  is  represented  by  the  Mayflower 
descendants,  the  first  families  of  Virginia,  and  the  daughters 
of  the  revolution.  New  England,  once  so  prolific  in  typical 
American  manhood  and  womanhood,  is  now  largely  filled  up  with 
recent  immigrants  and  their  children.  Recently  in  connection 
with  one  of  my  students.  Miss  C.  M.  Doud,  I  have  been  stud3'ing 
the  decline  of  the  birth  rate  in  one  important  group  of  American 


THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE 


129 


stock,  the  Society  of  Mayflower  Descendants.*  By  means  of 
questionnaires  we  have  obtained  data  concerning  families  of  the 
California  branch  of  this  Society.  The  size  of  the  family  was 
found  to  decrease  with  the  recency  of  the  birth  of  the  parents. 
The  size  of  the  family  of  parents  born  in  successive  periods  is 
shown  in  the  following  table: 

Declining  Birth  Rate  of  the  Mayflower  Descendants 


No.  of  children. 

Mother's  family 
Father's  family. 


Husbands  &" 
wives  born 

between 
1810-1830 


6.0 
8.0 


Husbands 

born 

between 

1830-1840 

wives  after 

1840 


S-6 

(4  families) 


Husbands  &• 
wives  both 

born 

between 

1840-1860 


3-33 

(27  families) 

4.S2 
S-iS 


Husbands 

born 

between 

1850-1860 

wives  after 

i860 


30 

(8  families) 
4.28 
5.62 


Husbands  &• 
wives  both 
born 
between 
i860- 1880 ; 
families 
probably 
completed 


2. II 

(4S  families) 
3-54 
3-94 


Husbands  &• 

wives  both 

born 

between 

1870-1880 


(20  families) 
382 
4.0 


It  is  possible  that  a  few  children  may  yet  be  born  to  the  parents 
of  the  last  age  group,  viz.,  those  in  which  the  mothers  were  bom 
between  1870  and  1880.  As  only  8  of  the  mothers  in  this  group 
were  less  than  45  years  of  age,  and  as  all  of  them  are  over  38,  the 
children  from  this  group  will  be  very  few.  Perhaps  the  average 
number  of  children  per  family  of  the  Mayflower  descendants 
is  somewhat  larger  than  our  results  indicate,  but  it  is  not  probable 
that  the  number  of  children  would  be  more  than  two  and  a  half 
per  married  couple,  a  number  obviously  insufficient  to  main- 
tain the  stock. 

Whatever  we  may  say  for  the  eugenic  qualities  of  our  citizens 
of  foreign  extraction,  and  many  of  them  doubtless  represent  an 
excellent  inheritance,  we  cannot  but  regard  the  disappearance 
of  such  stock  as  the  Adams,  Lowells,  Edwards,  and  Lees  as  noth- 
ing short  of  a  grave  national  misfortune. 

The  most  serious  menace  to  racial  welfare,  not  only  in  America, 
but  in  most  civilized  lands,  is  the  relative  sterility  of  superior 

1  Jour.  Hered.,  Vol.  9,  296-3cx3. 


I30  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

types  of  humanity.  On  the  other  hand,  those  who  are  mentally 
defective  or  subnormal  tend,  through  their  lack  of  restraint  and 
foresight,  to  be  unusually  prolific.  The  records  of  the  Jukes, 
Kallikaks,  Nams,  Hill  Folk,  Tribe  of  Ishmael  and  other  notorious 
defective  strains  show  that  these  degenerates  are  distinguished 
for  unusual  fecundity  which  more  than  offsets  their  high  infant 
mortality.  Dr.  Wilmarth  in  reporting  on  some  cases  of  the 
transmission  of  mental  defect  has  incidentally  chosen  cases  which 
illustrate  the  high  fecundity  which  is  only  too  prevalent  in  this 
class:  "Two  children  from  one  family  are  under  our  care.  From 
the  sheriff,  who  brought  the  children,  and  an  intelligent  neighbor, 
I  learned  that  the  mother  was  weak  mentally.  The  father  seldom 
worked  but  managed  to  raise  his  family  on  what  he  could  obtain 
in  other  ways.  Not  one  of  the  eighteen  children  was  a  desirable 
member  of  society.  The  girls  drifted  into  disreputable  lives;  the 
boys  were  idlers  and  thieves  with  no  moral  sense.  I  know  a 
couple  in  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  whose  nine  children  were  all  idiots  of 
low  grade.  A  family  in  eastern  Wisconsin,  the  father  and  mother 
are  both  feeble-minded;  at  least  7  of  the  8  children  are  imbeciles; 
5  we  have  cared  for.  A  couple  in  this  state  have  nine  children,  all 
subnormal,  and  there  are  several,  to  my  knowledge,  in  collateral 
branches  of  the  family.  One  feeble-minded  woman,  now  removed 
from  the  state,  had  by  different  men  18  children  in  19  years,  she 
alleges.  I  have  seen  only  three  of  her  children.  These  were 
feeble-minded  and  especially  defective  in  moral  sense."  ^ 

1  Dr.  C.  T.  Ewart  {Jour.  Mental  Science,  56,  Oct.,  1910)  states  that  "Dr.  Ettie 
Sayer,  in  the  course  of  her  work  for  the  London  City  Council,  studied  the  family 
history  of  100  normal  families  and  100  families  where  mental  defectives  were  found. 
The  normal  families  averaged  five  in  number,  while  families  showing  abnormality 
averaged  7.6,  or  nearly  one-third  as  many  more."  It  is  not  altogether  dear  from 
the  account  how  the  average  number  in  the  normal  families  was  arrived  at.  If 
100  families  were  chosen  and  the  average  number  of  children  computed,  it  would 
not  form  a  fair  basis  of  comparison  with  the  fecundity  of  the  stocks  containing 
mental  defectives.  Taking  the  mental  defectives,  or  any  lot  of  individuals  however 
characterized,  it  is  probable  that  they  will  be  found  to  come  from  families  of 
more  than  the  average  size.  If  we  draw  100  people  at  random  from  the  general 
population,  we  are  apt  to  get  a  preponderating  number  from  families  of  relatively 
large  size,  since  these  present  the  largest  number  of  individuals  to  draw  from.  If 
we  take  100  families  and  find  the  average  number  of  individuals  they  contain,  this 


THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE  131 

Whetham  remarks^  that,  "Feeble-minded  women,  whether 
married  or  unmarried,  are  remarkably  fertile.  The  workhouse 
records  frequently  note  that  five,  six,  or  seven  children  have  been 
born  before  the  mother  is  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  she  herself 
may  have  commenced  child-bearing  at  fifteen  years  of  age  or  even 
younger.  Most  of  these  children  inherit  the  mental  condition  of 
their  parents,  and  where  both  parents  are  known  to  be  feeble- 
minded, there  is  no  record  of  their  having  given  birth  to  a  normal 
child.  In  one  workhouse  there  were  sixteen  feeble-minded  women 
who  had  produced  between  them  one  hundred  and  sixteen  chil- 
dren with  a  large  proportion  of  mental  defect.  Out  of  one  such 
family  of  fourteen,  only  four  could  be  trained  to  do  remunerative 
work." 

"With  regard  to  the  fertility  of  feeble-minded  stocks,  it  has 
been  pointed  out  that  the  feeble-minded  children  from  the  degen- 
erate families,  who  use  the  special  schools  in  London,  come,  some- 
times two  or  more  at  a  time,  from  households  averaging  about 
seven  offspring,  whereas  the  average  number  of  children  in  the 
families  who  now  use  the  public  elementary  schools  is  about  four." 
In  England  until  recently  (the  evil  is  still  not  entirely  abated) 
there  has  been  a  very  effective  system  for  encouraging  the  prop- 
agation of  feeble-minded  stocks.  Girls  bom  in  the  workhouse 
were  kept  as  pubHc  charges  in  homes  or  industrial  schools  until 
they  were  16,  when  they  were  turned  loose  upon  the  world.  With 
their  generally  poor  inheritance  combined  with  unfavorable 
conditions  for  developing  whatever  germs  of  mentality  or  strength 
of  character  they  may  have  possessed,  it  is  no  wonder  that  a  large 

number  will  be  less  than  the  average  size  of  the  families  from  which  we  draw  ova 
100  individuals  at  random.  The  assumption  that  averages  arrived  at  by  these  two 
methods  are  comparable  is  a  fallacy  which  is  very  common  in  writings  on  eugenics, 
and  it  is  one  that  very  easily  escapes  notice.  In  the  present  case,  if  the  size  of  the 
families  from  which  mental  defectives  came  were  compared,  not  with  the  average 
size  of  normal  families,  but  with  the  average  size  of  the  families  from  which  normal 
individuals  came  (which  is  a  very  different  thing)  the  results  would,  other  things 
equal,  be  indicative  of  differences  in  the  fecundity  of  the  two  stocks.  It  may  be 
that  the  comparison  was  made  by  the  latter  method  in  the  investigation  referred  to, 
although  it  is  not  so  stated. 
^  IntrodiicHoii  to  Eugenics,  p.  26. 


132 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


proportion  of  these  girls  drift  into  immoral  lives.  They  fre- 
quently return  to  the  workhouse  to  have  their  children  who,  after 
being  raised  at  public  expense,  are  then  liberated  to  repeat  much 
the  same  performance. 

The  relation  between  fertihty  and  social  status  has  been  studied 
by  a  number  of  investigators.  Heron  found  in  London  that  the 
districts  which  afford  evidence  of  prosperity  have  a  low  birth  rate, 
while  districts  in  which  indications  of  poverty  are  common  have  a 
high  birth  rate.  It  was  estimated  that  while  the  death  rates  in  the 
latter  districts  were  higher  than  in  the  former,  the  difference  was 
not  great  enough  to  counteract  the  greater  fecundity  of  the  poorer 
classes.  Moreover,  Heron  showed  that  sixty  years  ago  the 
relative  fecundity  of  the  classes  dealt  with  was  the  reverse  of  what 
it  is  at  the  present  time.  Bertillon  ^  gives  the  following  tabulation 
of  the  birth  rates  per  thousand  women  between  15  and  50  years  of 
age  in  various  sections  of  four  European  cities : 


Fertility  of  Women  in  Different  Districts  of  Large  Cities 


Paris 

Berlin 

Vienna 

London 

Very  Poor  Districts. .  .  . 

108 

157 

200 

147 

Poor                  "      .... 

95 

129 

164 

140 

Comfortable    "      .... 

72 

114 

155 

107 

Very     "            "      .... 

65 

96 

153 

107 

Rich                 "      .... 

53 

63 

107 

87 

Very  Rich         "      .... 

34 

47 

71 

63 

While  the  figures  given  may  not  exactly  represent  the  birth 
rates  of  these  districts,  they  doubtless  form  a  fairly  close  approxi- 
mation of  them.  The  birth  rate  of  Paris  and  Berlin  measured 
by  the  number  of  annual  births  per  thousand  married  women  is 
shown  in  the  following  table: 

1  Bull.  Inst.  Intemat.  Stat.,  11,  163-176,  1899. 


THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE 


133 


Number  of  Children  per  1,000  Married  Women  in  Diferent  Urban 

Districts 


Very  Poor  Districts, 

Poor 

Comfortable    " 

Very    " 

Rich  "       , 

Very  Rich        " 


Paris 


Berlin 


142 

214 

128 

198 

109 

192 

96 

172 

94 

145 

65 

121 

That  similar  conditions  prevail  in  American  cities  is  indicated 
by  statistics  of  the  birth  rates  of  different  classes  in  Philadelphia.* 
In  expensive  residence  districts  the  rate  is  18;  in  the  well-to-do 
districts,  21.4.  per  thousand;  among  the  American  born  factory 
workers  it  is  24.5,  while  among  the  worst  paid  immigrants  it  is 
41.9.  The  death  rate  in  the  expensive  wards  is  14.5  per  thousand; 
while  it  is  higher  in  the  slums,  viz.,  20.5,  it  does  not  nearly  make 
up  for  the  difference  in  the  birth  rate. 

It  is  not  easy  to  compare  the  eugenic  worth  of  the  American 
and  foreign  born  elements  of  our  population,  and  it  would  be  a 
great  error  to  measure  the  eugenic  value  of  a  stock  in  terms  of 
wealth  or  social  position.  Many  people  of  the  most  desirable 
types  of  inheritance  can  boast  of  very  little  of  either  of  these 
desirable  possessions.  No  small  proportion  of  poverty  in  our 
present  economic  regime  is  due  to  accident,  illness  or  other  cir- 
cumstances for  which  the  unfortunate  victims  are  in  no  way  to 
blame.  Nevertheless,  it  is  undeniably  true  that  many  people  are 
poor  because  their  innate  shiftlessness,  mental  inferiority,  and 
unreliability  makes  them  practically  unemployable.  Such 
persons,  and  a  good  share  of  their  progeny,  tend  to  remain  in  the 
ranks  of  the  poverty  stricken  classes,  unable  to  seize  any  oppor- 
tunity that  may  present  itself  for  improving  their  condition.  It  is 
not  uncommon  to  find  pauper  pedigrees  extending  through  several 
generations.    People  of  good  stock  unless  hampered  by  ill  fortune 

^  S.  Nearing,  North  American  Rev.  197,  629,  191 2, 


134  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

continually  rise  out  of  the  ranks  of  poverty,  but  those  of  shiftless 
habits,  dull  mentality,  and  little  ambition  constitute  the  kind  of 
poor  who  are  always  with  us. 

A  cooperative  study  made  by  Pearson  and  several  collaborators 
(Elderton,  Barrington,  Lammotte  and  DeLaski)  throws  consid- 
erable light  on  the  relation  between  fecundity  and  the  possession 
of  qualities  of  a  socially  valuable  kind.  Several  of  Pearson's 
colleagues  found  in  the  laboring  population  of  English  towns 
that  there  was  a  fairly  high  correlation  between  large  families  and 
dirty  homes  (.41),  low  rent  (.31),  poor  food  (.33),  insufficient 
food  (.35),  low  wages  of  father  (.32)  and  irregularity  of  employ- 
ment. We  may  explain  the  low  rent  and  the  poor  and  insufficient 
food  of  large  families  as,  in  part  at  least,  a  consequence  of  their 
large  size.  There  seems,  however,  no  good  reason  to  suppose  that 
the  possession  of  a  large  family  would  have  any  effect  in  lowering 
the  wages  of  the  father.  Wages  are  at  least  a  rough  measure  of 
the  efficiency  of  the  individual  worker,  and  the  fact  that  the  men 
who  are  poorly  paid  have  a  larger  number  of  children  than  those 
who  receive  better  wages  indicates  that  the  less  efficient  types 
have  the  highest  degree  of  fecundity.^  Miss  Elderton  in  her 
elaborate  report  on  the  English  birth  rate  says  of  the  artisan 
classes:  "The  poorest  classes  of  all,  those  who  cannot  provide 
for  themselves  but  seek  public  dispensaries  and  maternity  char- 
ities for  attendance,  do  not  appear  to  limit  their  families,  for  very 
many  have  large  families  running  up  to  thirteen  or  more." 

Dunlop  gives  data  from  Scotland  based  on  the  number  of 
children  per  marriage  lasting  for  15  years,  and  in  which  the  wives 
were  between  22  and  27  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  marriage. 

1  Mr.  S.  Johnson  in  studying  the  fecundity  of  British  workmen  found  that  those 
with  regular  employment  had  on  the  average  in  1908,  2.86  and  in  1909-10,  2.71 
children,  while  those  with  irregular  employment  had  in  these  years  3.12  and  3.26 
children.    Jour.  Roy.  Stat.  Soc.  75,  534-550,  1911-1912. 


THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE  135 

Fertility  of  Classes  in  Scotland  According  to  Occupation 


Crofters 7 

Miners 7 

Agricultural  laborers 6 

General  laborers 6 

Ministers 4 

Advertisers  and  solicitors 3 

Physicians  and  surgeons 3 


04 
01 
42 
29 

33 
92 

91 


The  marriages  considered  are  naturally  more  fertile  than  the 
average,  but  they  show  the  difference  in  the  fertility  of  people  of 
different  stations. 

A  good  deal  of  interesting  data  has  been  collected  in  the  last 
few  years  concerning  the  dwindling  families  of  college  graduates, 
and  the  general  conclusion  quite  uniformly  arrived  at,  and  one 
from  which  the  data  leave  no  opportunity  for  escaping,  is  that  the 
college-bred  elements  of  the  population  are  not  nearly  reproducing 
themselves.  Several  years  ago  President  Elliott  pointed  with 
alarm  to  the  low  birth  rate  of  the  graduates  of  Harvard  Univer- 
sity. J.  C.  Phillips,  in  the  Harvard  Graduates  Magazine  for 
September,  1916,  has  presented  a  detailed  study  of  the  birth  rates 
of  Harvard  and  Yale  graduates.  Taking  the  records  of  classes  not 
later  than  1890,  to  insure  dealing  mainly  with  completed  families, 
he  finds  that  about  25  per  cent  of  the  Harvard  graduates  never 
marry;  of  those  who  do,  21  per  cent  are  childless,  and  that  more 
than  three  children  to  a  family  is  a  rare  occurrence.  The  decline 
of  the  birth  rate  in  Harvard  and  Yale  is  shown  in  the  following 
table : 


136 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


Number  of  Children  in  Families  of  Harvard  and  Yale  Graduates 

HARVARD 


Year 


1851-60 
1861-70 
1871-80, 
1881-90 

1851-60 
1861-70 
1871-80 
1881-90 


Average  per  Graduate 

1.68 
1.98 
1.63 
1-55 


YALE 


2-53 
2.  16 

1-75 

1-53 


Birth  rates  for  the  graduates  of  Wesleyan  University  are  given 
by  Nicolson^  as  follows: 

The  Diminishing  Families  of  the  Graduates  of  Wesleyan  University 


Year 

Children  per  Family  of 

Men  Graduates 

Women  Graduates 

18^^—4.0 

4-49 
346 

3  27 
2.90 

2-53 
1.96 

1.42 

.81 

00  ^ 
i8d.i— tco 

i8t:i-6o 

1861-70 

1871-80 

2.6 

1881-90 

2. 

1891—00. 

1-37 
.69 

1901— 10. 

The  numbers  for  the  last  two  decades  are  too  small  since  the 
families  are  not  complete  in  either  case,  but  the  dwindling  of  the 
families  is  nevertheless  evident  if  these  decades  are  not  considered. 

^Science,  N.  S.  36,  74-76,  1912. 


THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE 


137 


The  decline  of  the  birth  rate  in  two  other  colleges  is  shown  in  the 
following  table: 

Families  of  Graduates  of  Middlehury  and  New  York  Universities 


Number  of  Children 


Year 

Middlebury 

N.  Y.  University 

180^-00 

5-6 
4.8 

41 
3-9 
3-4 
2.9 

2.8 

2-3 

1.8 

1810— 19 

1820-29 

18^0-^0 

4.0 

3-2 

2.9 

2-5 

184.0-4.Q 

i8t:o-c;9 

1860-69 

1870-74 

187^-70 

In  general,  the  graduates  of  women's  colleges  show  a  lower 
birth  rate  than  the  graduates  of  colleges  for  men.  The  marriage 
rate  for  women  graduates  is  low.  Miss  Nearing^  on  the  basis  of  an 
extended  study,  says  "College  women  do  not  marry  probably  in 
fifty  cases  out  of  one  hundred  given  sufficient  time  out  of  college." 
The  following  table  from  Professor  Amy  Hewes  gives  the  marriage 
and  birth  rates  of  the  graduates  of  Mt.  Holyoke  College: 

The  Families  of  Mt.  Holyoke  Graduates 


Dates  of 

Graduation 


1842-49 
1850-59 
1860-69 
1870-79 
1880-89 
1890-92 


Per  Cent 

Single 


14.6 

85- 

24-5 

75- 

39-1 

60. 

40.6 

59- 

42.4 

57- 

SO- 

50- 

Per  Cent 
Married 


•4 

5 

9 

•4 

.6 


Children  per 
Married  Graduate 


2.77 

338 
2.64 

2-75 
2.54 
1. 91 


Children  per 
Graduate 


2-37 

2.55 
1.60 

1.63 

1.46 

•95 


1  Pubs.  Am.  Stat.  Ass.,  14,  156-174,  1914. 


138 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


In  the  classes  graduating  from  Vassar  College  between  i860 
and  1892,  53  per  cent  had  married,  producing  1.91  children  in 
each  family,  or  an  average  of  one  per  graduate.  The  average 
number  of  children  per  graduate  up  to  the  year  1900  was  .8  of  a 
child.  The  average  for  Wellesley  graduates  between  1875  and 
1899  was  .83  of  a  child. 

The  birth  rates  of  four  colleges  are  summarized  in  the  fol- 
lowing table  compiled  by  Miss  Nearing: 

The  Fecundity  of  Graduates  of  Colleges  for  Women 


College 


Vassar 

Bryn  Mawr. . 
Wellesley. .  . 
Mt.  Holyoke 


No.  of  Children  per  100  Married  Graduates 


iSyo-yg 


207.8 


i88o-8g 


167.3 
166. 1 


i8go-gg 


147- 

171-5 
no.  I 

182.3 


igoo-og 


68.8 
77-4 

91.2 


Of  graduates  before  1901  Smith  College  had  59.4,  Vassar,  83.9, 
Bryn  Mawr,  82.3  and  Mt.  Holyoke,  73.0  children  per  hundred 
graduates. 

Women  graduates  were  found  to  marry,  on  the  average,  two 
years  later  than  the  women  who  do  not  attend  college.  Notwith- 
standing this  fact,  the  fecundity  of  graduates  is  not  markedly 
lower  than  that  of  non-collegiate  women  of  American  birth 
belonging  to  the  general  class  from  which  graduates  are 
recruited. 

Professor  Cattell  has  investigated  the  size  of  the  families  of  440 
American  men  of  science,  choosing  only  those  cases  in  which 
the  ages  of  the  parents  indicated  that  the  family  was  completed. 
The  data  collected  show  a  remarkable  low  birth  rate.  It  is  true 
that  the  death  rate  among  the  American  men  of  science  is  unu- 
sually small,  being  "seventy-five  per  thousand  to  the  age  of  five 
years  and  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  to  the  age  of  marriage." 
"The  marriage  rate  for  scientific  men,"  says  Cattell,  "is  high,  895 


THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE  139 

among  the  thousand  [the  number  investigated]  being  married. 
None  the  less  it  is  obvious  that  the  families  are  not  self-perpet- 
uating. The  scientific  men  under  50,  of  whom  there  are  261  with 
completed  families,  have  on  the  average  1.88  children,  about  12 
per  cent  of  whom  die  before  the  age  of  marriage.  What  propor- 
tion will  marry  we  do  not  know;  but  only  about  75  per  cent  of 
Harvard  and  Yale  graduates  marry;  only  50  per  cent  of  the 
graduates  of  colleges  for  women  marry.  A  scientific  man  has  on 
the  average  about  seven-tenths  of  an  adult  son.  If  three-fourths 
of  his  sons  and  grandsons  marry  and  their  families  continue  to  be 
of  the  same  size,  a  thousand  scientific  men  will  leave  about  350 
grandsons  to  marry  and  transmit  their  names  and  their  heredi- 
tary traits.  The  extermination  will  be  still  more  rapid  in  female 
lines." 

From  the  foregoing  data  we  may  draw  several  conclusions 
regarding  the  effects  of  our  present  differential  birth  rate. 

1.  We  are  probably  losing  the  elements  of  our  population  that 
belong  to  native  American  stock.  Wherever  data  have  been 
collected  sufficient  to  base  a  judgment  upon  regarding  the  birth 
rate  of  native  Americans,  it  has  been  shown  that,  with  our  existing 
marriage  rate  and  death  rate  the  birth  rate  is  insufficient  to  repro- 
duce the  population.  The  increase  of  our  population  comes 
mainly  from  immigrants  and  the  children  of  immigrants.  The 
eugenic  effect  of  this  is  good  or  bad  according  to  the  qualities  of 
the  immigrants  of  foreign  born  stocks,  and  this  problem  cannot 
be  solved  in  any  general  or  off-hand  way. 

2.  We  are  losing  the  elements  of  our  population  that  have 
achieved  success  financially,  socially,  or  in  the  field  of  intellectual 
achievement.  Speaking  generally,  none  of  these  classes  is  repro- 
ducing itself.  This  condition  is  quite  as  bad  in  Europe,  at  least  in 
several  countries,  as  in  the  United  States.  It  constitutes  a  very 
serious  menace  to  our  present  social  welfare,  and  one  which  is 
striking  at  the  very  roots  of  our  civilization.  The  menace  is  all 
the  more  dangerous  because  its  effects  do  not,  like  those  of  war, 
pestilence  or  famine,  obtrude  themselves  upon  our  notice.  The 
forces  for  evil  that  work  insidiously  are  the  most  to  be  feared  be- 


I40  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

cause  they  may  produce  great  havoc  before  they  are  detected,  or 
at  least  before  the  extent  of  their  damage  is  adequately  realized. 

3.  The  elements  of  the  population  that  are  of  subnormal 
mentality  exhibit  at  present  the  highest  degree  of  fecundity.  This 
is  the  general  verdict  of  most  students  of  the  birth  rate  of  different 
classes  of  the  population.  The  higher  death  rate  of  the  subnor- 
mals probably  does  not  offset  completely  their  greater  fecundity. 
There  are  various  factors,  however,  which  tend  to  reduce  the 
fecundity  of  subnormal  classes.  Criminals  have  their  families 
reduced  on  account  of  penal  servitude,  and  it  is  improbable  that 
tramps  and  hoboes,  who  as  a  class  are  of  subnormal  mentality, 
leave  sufficient  offspring  to  replenish  their  stock.  Prostitutes, 
who  constitute  another  subnormal  class,  are  frequently  sterile  as  a 
result  of  venereal  diseases,  and  they  also  purposely  avoid  having 
offspring.  We  possess  little  data  concerning  the  fecundity  of 
women  of  this  calling.  Many  of  them  have  had  one  or  more 
children  before  entering  upon  their  professional  career,  and 
they  sometimes  marry  and  bear  children  after  the  business  of 
prostitution  has  been  abandoned.  Although  they  come  from 
stocks  that  are  more  than  usually  proHfic,  it  is  very  doubtful  if 
they  produce  sufficient  offspring  to  replace  themselves. 

The  subnormal  elements  of  the  population  thus  suffer  in  several 
ways  an  extensive  sterilization  of  their  number.  We  have  no 
means  of  accurately  measuring  the  extent  of  the  losses  to  their 
ranks.  Notwithstanding  crime,  vagabondage,  prostitution  and 
a  high  infant  mortality,  stocks  like  the  Kallikaks,  Jukes,  Nams, 
etc.,  somehow  continue  to  increase  in  numbers.  If  their  produc- 
tiveness suffers  from  crime  and  vice,  the  celibate  careers,  late 
marriages  and  restricted  birth  rate  of  the  classes  in  the  higher 
social  strata  apparently  reduce  fecundity  still  more.  At  any  rate, 
the  latter  classes  in  general  have  a  birth  rate  which  cannot  fail  to 
lead  to  extinction.  This  much  is  clearly  indicated  from  a  variety 
of  sources,  while  the  springs  of  our  defective  inheritance  have 
shown  no  manifest  signs  of  drying  up. 


THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE  141 

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k  Prendre  pour  la  Combattre.  F.  Alcan,  Paris,  1911. 
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Crum,  F.  S.    The  Decadence  of  the  Native  American  Stock.    A  Statistical  Study  of 

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of  Scotland. 
Elderton,  E.  M.    Report  on  the  English  Birth  Rate.    Part  i,  England  North  of  the 

Humber.    Eugen.  Lab.  Mems.  19  and  20,  1914. 
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Cooperative  Study.     Eugen.  Lab.  Mems.  18,  London,  1913. 
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Ass.  1901.    Sterility  of  American  Marriages.    Critic  and  Guide,  1904,  182-186. 
Fahlbeck,  P.  E.    Der  Adel  Schwedens,  G.  Fischer.    Jena,  1903. 
Heron,  D.    On  the  Relation  of  Fertility  in  Man  to  Social  Status,  and  on  the  Changes 

in  this  Relation  that  have  taken  place  in  the  last  50  years.      Drapers'  Co. 

Research  Mems.  Studies  in  National  Deterioration,  i,  1906.    Note  on  Repro- 
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the  U.  S.     Publ.  Am.  Stat.  Ass.  13,  583-604, 1913. 
Hoffmann,  F.  L.    The  Decline  in  the  Birth  Rate.    North  Am.  Rev.  189,  675-687, 

1909;  Maternity  Statistics  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island.    Problems  in  Eugenics, 

I,  334-340,  191 2.    The  Significance  of  a  Declining  Birth  Rate.    Prudential 

Press,  Newark,  N.  J.,  1914. 
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Descendants.    Jour.  Hered.  9,  296-300,  1918. 
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250-253,  1915. 
Kiaer,  A.  N.    Statistische  Beitrage  zur  Beleuchtung  der  ehelichen  Fruchtbarkeit. 

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Deutschland,  Braun'sche  Hofbuchdruckeri,  Kalsruhe,  1907,  pp.  280. 


142  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

National  Council  of  Public  Morals.    The  Declining  Birth-Rate.    Button  and  Co., 

N.  Y.,  1917. 
Nearing,  N.  S.    Education  and  Fecundity.    Pubs.  Am.  Stat.  Ass.  14,  156-174, 

1914-15. 
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Newsholme,  A.    Vital  Statistics,  3d  ed.,  London,  1899;  The  Declining  Birth  Rate, 

New  Tracts  for  the  Times  Series.    Moflatt,  Yard  and  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1911. 
Newsholme,  A.,  and  Stevenson,  T.  H.  C.    The  Decline  of  Fertility  in  the  United 

Kingdom  and  Other  Countries  as  shown  by  the  Corrected  Birth  Rates,  Jour. 

Roy.  Stat.  Soc,  69,  34-87.  1906. 
Oldenberg,  K.     Ueber  den  Riickgang  der  Geburten-und  Sterbeziffer.     Arch.  f. 

Sozialwiss.  u.  Politik.  32,  319-377  and  33,  401-499,  1911. 
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7,  1910.    The  Groundwork  of  Eugenics.    Eugen.  Lab.  Lect.  Series,  2,  1909; 

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and  College  Education.    School  and  Society,  6,  438-441,  191 7. 
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33-38,  90-100,  188-192,  1901;  Die  sterile  Ehen.  1.  c,  H.  i,  47-Si)  H.  2,  116- 

124,  1904. 
Report  of  the  New  South  Wales  Royal  Commission  on  the  Declme  of  the  Birth 

Rate.    Vol.  i,  Sydney,  1904. 
Sprague,  R.  J.    Education  and  Race  Suicide.    Jour.  Heredity,  6,  158-162,  1915. 
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Paris,  Imprimerie  Nationale,  1913 
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Thompson,  W.  S.    Population:  A  Study  in  Malthusianism,  Columbia  Univ.  N.  Y., 

1915.    Race  Suicide  in  the  United  States.    Am.  Jour.  Phys.  Anthrop.  3,  97- 

146,  1920. 
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1894. 
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I 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE 

"Of  the  thirty-eight  physicians  [in  New  York]  who  were  wilhng  to 
discuss  the  matter  I  asked:  'What  do  you  find  to  be  the  ideal  American 
family? '  Thirty  said,  'Two  children,  a  boy  and  a  girl; '  Six  said  'One 
child.'  One  said,  'Having  a  family  is  not  an  American  ideal; '  and  one 
said,  'Five  or  six.'" — L.  K.  Commander,  The  American  Idea. 

"I  wouldn't  have  another  for  the  world.  I  had  Lucy  when  I  was 
first  married  and  didn't  know  any  better." — Mrs.  C.  of  New  York. 

The  practical  problem  of  remedying  the  evils  of  the  present 
differential  birth  rate  requires  for  its  solution  a  knowledge  of  the 
causes  by  which  this  condition  is  brought  about.  Spencer  attrib- 
uted the  low  birth  rate  among  the  intellectual  classes  to  the 
"antagonism  between  Genesis  and  Individuation," — the  utiliza- 
tion of  vital  energy  in  cerebration  being  supposed  to  diminish,  by 
a  sort  of  compensating  loss,  the  power  of  producing  offspring.  He 
admits  that  "special  proofs  that  in  man  great  cerebral  expendi- 
ture diminishes  or  destroys  generative  power,  are  difficult  to 
obtain."  Certainly  cases  enough  might  be  adduced  in  which  men 
of  high  intellectual  power  have  shown  no  lack  of  fertility,  but 
among  women  it  seems  more  probable  that  intense  and  continued 
application  to  mental  work  might  produce  at  least  a  partial 
sterility.  A  half  century  ago  large  families  among  the  intellectual 
classes  were  not  uncommon.  The  rapid  decline  of  the  birth  rate 
within  a  couple  of  generations  can  scarcely  depend  upon  any  deep 
seated  organic  changes  occurring  in  the  human  species.  Our 
changed  modes  of  life  with  their  greater  drafts  upon  nervous 
energy  may  have  had  a  certain  effect  in  reducing  the  natural 
fecundity  of  the  female  sex,  but  it  is  questionable  if  much  of  the 
decline  in  the  birth  rate  can  be  attributed  to  this  cause. 

In  interpreting  statistics  concerning  the  number  of  births  per 
thousand  of  the  population,  we  must  consider  the  effect  of  de- 

143 


144  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

creasing  mortality.  If  people  live  longer,  there  is  naturally  a 
larger  number  of  them  alive  at  any  given  time.  If  each  family 
always  produced  the  same  number  of  children  the  relative  num- 
ber of  births  per  thousand  would  decrease  as  the  number  of 
people  alive  at  any  given  time  increased.  Therefore,  with  the 
same  marriage  rate  and  the  same  degree  of  fecundity,  a  commu- 
nity with  a  decreasing  mortality  would  show  a  decreasing  birth 
rate,  were  we  to  measure  birth  rates,  as  is  usually  done,  by  the 
annual  number  of  births  per  thousand  inhabitants. 

Marriage  rates  estimated,  as  they  commonly  are,  by  the  num- 
ber of  marriages  made  annually  per  thousand  of  the  population, 
would  be  changed  by  both  the  birth  rate  and  the  death  rate. 
With  a  given  number  of  marriages  per  annum,  the  rate  per 
thousand  of  the  population  would  decrease  with  an  increased 
birth  rate  and  increase  with  an  increased  death  rate.  In  consid- 
ering the  relation  of  marriage,  birth  and  death  rates  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  each  of  these  affects  the  others  as  expressed  by 
the  method  usually  employed. 

Changes  in  the  birth  rate  arising  from  variations  in  the  rate 
and  age  of  marriage  and  the  death  rate  may  be  partly  avoided 
by  employing  the  so-called  "corrected  births  rates"  in  which 
allowance  is  made  for  changes  in  these  factors  according  to  the 
method  employed  by  Newsholme  and  Stevenson  or  some  similar 
mode  of  procedure.  An  index  of  birth  rates  for  many  purposes 
more  satisfactory  is  afforded  by  the  number  of  children  born 
annually  to  every  looo  women  of  child-bearing  age.  What 
method  of  enumeration  is  the  best  depends  on  the  particular  use 
one  wishes  to  make  of  the  data. 

Statistics  on  the  birth  rate  may  also  be  vitiated  to  a  certain 
degree  by  immigration  and  emigration.  In  the  United  States, 
not  only  foreign  immigration,  but  the  frequent  emigration  of  our 
people  from  one  state  to  another  introduces  a  source  of  error  into 
the  statistics  compiled  by  the  several  states.  In  addition,  the 
vital  statistics  of  our  states  suffer  from  other  sources  of  inaccu- 
racy due  to  the  way  in  which  they  are  compiled.  Data  on  births 
are  faulty  owing  to  incomplete  birth  registration.     Only  a  few 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE    145 

states  make  a  serious  attempt  to  compel  such  registration  by  law. 
While  physicians  and  midwives  may  comply  with  the  regulation 
for  reporting  births,  there  are  many  children  born  without  attend- 
ance, and  which,  therefore,  are  frequently  not  registered.  More 
care  has  been  taken  recently  in  compiling  data  on  births  with  the 
result  that  a  larger  number  are  reported.  The  rise  in  the  birth 
rate  of  several  of  our  states  is  not  improbably  due  largely  to  this 
cause.  Massachusetts  has  for  many  years  compiled  data  on 
births  and  has  passed  laws  compelling  birth  registration,  but  the 
U.  S.  Children's  Bureau  has  made  a  thorough  study  of  a  Hmited 
district  in  that  state  with  the  following  results:  "99  births  were 
found  to  have  been  registered  twice,  10  births  were  registered 
which  actually  occurred  outside  the  limits  of  the  municipality, 
10  births  occurred  in  another  year  from  that  in  which  they  were 
registered;"  123  births  for  one  reason  or  another  were  not  regis- 
tered. The  errors,  which  were  considerable,  happened  to  offset 
each  other  fairly  well  since  the  record  showed  only  14  fewer  births 
than  actually  occurred. 

The  birth  rate  is  undoubtedly  affected  by  changes  in  the  age  of 
marriage  and  in  the  frequency  of  marriage,  but  it  is  evident  that 
neither  of  these  causes  can  account  for  more  than  a  small  part  of 
the  general  decline  in  the  birth  rate  during  the  past  fifty  years. 
Marriage  statistics  suffer  greatly  from  inaccuracy  of  data  on  the 
age  of  marriage.  As  most  people  do  not  consider  it  a  matter  of 
much  importance  to  report  the  true  ages  of  the  contracting  par- 
ties, the  age  of  the  woman  especially  is  frequently  stated  to  be  a 
few  years  younger  than  it  really  is.^  Conclusions  in  regard  to 
the  effect  of  the  marriage  rate  and  age  of  marriage  on  the  birth 
rate,  so  far  as  the  United  States  is  concerned,  must  be  regarded  as 
tentative.  According  to  the  U.  S.  Census  for  1910,  there  has  been 
for  both  sexes  a  gradual  advance  since  1890,  in  the  percentage  of 
married  persons  and  in  the  percentage  of  married,  widowed,  and 
divorced  persons  combined.    "In  the  age  groups  15  to  19  years, 

1  For  a  discussion  of  what  might  be  called  the  coefficient  of  mendacity  for  differ- 
ent ages  of  Australian  brides  see  Knibbs,  The  Mathematical  Theory  of  Population, 
Appendix  A,  of  the  Census  of  Australia  for  191 1,  Vol.  i. 


146  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

22  to  24  years,  and  25  to  34  years,  the  percentage  married,  wid- 
owed or  divorced  was  greater  in  1 910  than  in  1900  and  in  the  case 
of  the  first  two  groups  it  was  also  greater  in  1900  than  in  1890." 
A  larger  proportion  of  the  population  are  marrying  in  the  earlier 
ages  than  was  the  case  ten  or  twenty  years  ago.  The  falling  ofif 
in  the  natural  rate  of  increase  of  population  in  this  country  would 
not  seem  to  be  due  therefore  to  the  postponement  of  marriage. 

In  England  and  Wales  the  marriage  rate  has  remained  fairly 
constant  for  nearly  a  century,  although  exhibiting,  as  Ogle  has 
shown,  a  considerable  fluctuation  due  to  war  and  especially  to 
changes  in  economic  conditions,  the  curve  rising  and  falling 
concomitantly  with  the  rising  and  falling  of  the  curve  representing 
the  value  of  exports.  The  decline  in  the  birth  rate  has  progressed 
quite  steadily  without  much  apparent  relation  to  fluctuations  in 
the  rate  of  marriage.  The  relatively  small  changes  in  the  mar- 
riage rate  in  England  and  Wales  are  shown  in  the  following  table: 

Marriage  Rates  in  England  and  Wales 

Year  Rate  per  10,000         Year  Rate  per  10,000 

1820 81.5  1880 75 

1830 78  1900 80 

1840 78  1905 77 

1850 86  1910 75 

i860 85.5  1913 78 

1870 81  1914 79  •  5 

In  Germany  the  marriage  rate  has  remained  fairly  constant, 
rising  in  some  provinces  and  falling  in  others.  In  the  cities  of 
Prussia  the  marriage  rates  were  1880:  84.5;  1890,  93.5;  1900, 
96.5;  while  for  these  three  dates  in  the  country  they  were  73, 
75.5,  and  78.5.  Since  the  marriage  rate  has  risen  during  the 
period  in  which  the  birth  rate  has  fallen,  we  cannot  attribute 
much  of  the  fall  in  the  birth  rate  to  variations  in  the  frequency 
of  marriage. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE    147 

Marriage  Rates  per  10,000  of  the  Population  in  Germany 


1841-50. 
1851-60. 
1861-70. 
1871-80. 
1881-90. 
1891-00. 
1900...  . 
1905...  . 
1910...  . 
1912...  . 


Germany 

Prussia 

Bavaria 

Saxony 

81 

86 

66 

86 

78 

84 

64 

85 

85 

85 

87 

89 

86 

87 

84 

94 

78 

80 

69 

91 

82 

83 

77 

91 

85 

855 

80.5 

81 

77 

77-5 

78.5 

80 

Berlin 

93 

97 

"3 
119 

107 

lOI 


The  marriage  rate  of  France  shows  a  considerable  degree  of 
constancy  over  a  long  period.  It  reached  its  lowest  figure,  60.5, 
in  1870,  the  year  of  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  and  its  highest 
rate,  97.5,  in  1872,  the  year  after  the  war.  During  the  first 
twelve  years  of  the  20th  century  the  marriage  rate  in  France 
showed  a  very  slight  increase.  The  marriage  rate  in  France  since 
the  begiiming  of  the  last  century  is  shown  in  the  following  table : 

Marriage  Rate  in  France 


1801-10 76 

1810-20 79 

1820-30 88 

1830-40 80 

1840-50 80 

1850-60 79 

1860-70 78 

1870-80 80 

1880-90 74 

1890-00 75 

1900 77. 

igoi 78 


1902. 
1903. 
1904. 
1905. 
1906. 
1907. 
1908. 
1909. 
1910. 
1911. 
1912. 

1913- 


•75 
75. 
76 

77 

78 

80 

80 

78 

78 

77- 

79 

75 


148 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


It  is  clear  that  the  rate  of  marriage  in  France  can  have  had 
little  to  do  with  the  birth  rate  which  has  quite  steadily  declined 
since  the  beginning  of  the  19th  century,  even  during  the  various 
periods  in  which  the  marriage  rate  has  increased,  especially  be- 
tween 1890  and  1907. 

Other  countries  in  Europe  show  a  fair  constancy  of  marriage 
rates  over  decennial  periods,  some  having  a  slight  decrease  and 
others  exhibiting  a  slight  increase  as  we  approach  the  present 
time.  In  most  countries  the  highest  marriage  rate  occurred  in 
the  decade  i87c»-8o,  but  the  lowest  appeared  at  varying  periods 
down  to  the  present. 

The  reduction  in  the  infant  death  rate  which  has  occurred  in 
Europe  during  the  last  quarter  century  would  tend  to  depress  the 
marriage  rates.  On  the  other  hand,  the  declining  birth  rate 
would  have  an  opposite  effect.  We  may  avoid  these  sources  of 
error  somewhat  (though  encountering  others)  if  we  estimate  the 
proportion  of  married  women  to  the  total  number  of  women  of 
marriageable  age.  The  following  table  shows  the  number  of 
married  women  of  15  to  45  years  per  thousand  of  all  women  15 
to  45  years: 


Proportions  of  Married  Women  in  Europe 


England  and  Wales 

Ireland 

Sweden 

Germany 

Prussia 

Austria 

France 

Italy 


iSjo-ji 

1880-81 

i8go-gi 

519 

514 

494 

422 

395 

364 

457 

444 

454 

. . . 

519 

515 

498 

519 

519 

. . . 

520 

504 

555 

549 

545 

540 

552 

' 

igoo-oi 

492 
330 

444 
528 

533 
518 
577 
561 


Reckoned  in  this  way  the  proportion  of  women  who  are  mar- 
ried shows  a  decrease  in  some  countries  (England  and  Wales, 
Ireland),  and  an  increase  in  others  (Prussia,  France  and  Italy), 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE    149 

while  in  others  it  has  fluctuated  back  and  forth.  In  general,  the 
marriage  rates  calculated  according  to  the  two  methods  show  a 
fairly  pronounced  tendency  to  vary  together. 

The  birth  rate  would  very  naturally  be  affected  by  the  average 
age  of  marriage,  since  with  later  marriages  there  is  a  greater 
reduction  of  the  child-bearing  period.  Galton  estimates  that  the 
expected  fertility  of  women  marrying  at  29  is  to  that  of  women 
marrying  at  20  as  5  to  8.  It  is  a  common  belief  that  the  average 
age  of  marriage  is  increasing.  For  some  countries  this  is  true, 
but  as  the  accompanying  table  shows,  this  is  by  no  means  a 
general  fact.  The  average  age  has  declined  slightly  for  both 
sexes  in  France,  Prussia,  Bavaria,  Oldenburg  and  Denmark  for 
nearly  a  half  century.  For  the  last  quarter  of  the  19th  century  it 
has  declined  also  in  Finland,  Wurtenburg  and  Saxony. 


Average  Ages  of  Marriage. 


Eng.  &"  Wales 

Prussia 

FraiKe 

Sweden 

Bavaria 

&         9 

d"          9 

d'          9 

cf 

9 

d'       9 

1856-60. . . 

30.50 

26.10 

30.89 

28.41 

1861-65... 

30.11 

25.80 

1866-70. . . 

29.89 

27.22 

30.19 

25.62 

30.86 

28.26 

1871-75- •• 

29 

81 

26.99 

30-50 

25-79 

31.16 

28.46 

32.3 

28.7 

1876-80.. . 

29 

56 

27.08 

30.16 

25-37 

30.78 

28. 

31-6 

28. 

1881-85.. . 

29 

51 

26.27 

29.82 

25.96 

30.19 

27-49 

30.6 

27.6 

1886-90. . . 

28.23 

25.96 

29 

65 

26.52 

29-75 

25.11 

30.24 

27-57 

29.1 

26.1 

1891-95... 

28.43 

26.16 

29 

65 

26.52 

29.80 

25.40 

30.68 

27.64 

1896-00. .  . 

28.38 

26.21 

29 

30 

26.20 

29-65 

25.20 

30.23 

27-33 

1901-04. .  . 

28 

90 

25.70 

In  England  and  Wales  the  mean  age  of  spinsters  has  slowly 
advanced,  according  to  Newsholme,  since  1873,  (earlier  data  are 
rather  untrustworthy),  the  increase  from  1896  to  1899  being 
from  25.08  years  to  25.73.  There  has  been  a  general  increase  also 
in  Queensland  and  New  South  Wales. 

The  statistics  of  the  average  age  of  marriage  (as  well  as  those  of 
the  marriage  rate)  are  affected  by  the  frequency  of  divorce. 
Where  divorces  are  common  there  is  apt  to  be  a  large  number  of 


I50         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

remarriages  among  people  of  relatively  advanced  ages.  The 
increase  of  divorce,  although  very  widespread,  has  been  much 
more  rapid  in  some  countries  than  in  others,  and  in  countries  such 
as  the  United  States,  where  divorces  are  rapidly  becoming  more 
frequent,  the  average  age  of  marriage  would  tend  thereby  to 
become  considerably  higher.  Some  countries  have  a  separate 
tabulation  of  first  marriages.  The  ages  of  such  marriages  in 
England  and  Wales  have  shown  a  slight  increase  since  1866,  but 
they  have  decreased  in  France  (since  185 1)  and  in  Bavaria.  For 
most  countries  there  are  no  separate  tabulations  available. 

Age  of  marriage  doubtless  affects  the  differential  birth  rate 
since  the  different  classes  marry  on  the  average  at  different 
periods  of  life.  There  is  in  most  countries  a  tendency  for  members 
of  the  educated  and  professional  classes  to  marry  late.  According 
to  Rubin  and  Westergaard  the  average  difference  in  the  ages  at 
marriage  of  official  and  working  classes  at  Copenhagen  for  1878- 
1882  was  over  5  years.  Of  the  former  only  6.4  per  cent  were 
married  before  25,  while  35.1  per  cent  of  the  latter  were  married 
at  that  age.  Similar  differences  were  found  by  V.  Fircks.  Von 
Mayr  gives  the  ages  at  marriage  for  several  classes  in  Prussia  for 
1881-86  as  follows: 

Age  of  Marriage  According  to  Occupation 

Average  age 


Ofl&cial  class 33 

Medical  profession 31 

Artists  and  writers 30 

Army,  navy,  police 29 

Day  laborers 29 

Metal  workers 28 

Factory  employees  (male) 27 

"      "    (female) 24 


41 
76 
62 

30 
40 

04 
67 
62 


That  the  more  educated  and  skilled  among  the  laborers  marry 
later  than  their  less  skilled  coworkers  is  indicated  from  several 
sources.  Rowntree  {A  Study  of  Town  Life,  '02)  gives  the  following 
ages  of  marriage  for  skilled  and  unskilled  workers  of  York: 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE    151 

Ages  at  Marriage  of  Workmen  in  York 


Age  when  Married 


Under  20 
20-22. 

23-25 • 
26-30 . 

31-35- 
36-40. 

41-45  • 
46-50. 

Over  50. 


Percentage  of  Marriages  among  Workers 


Skilled 

Unskilled 

•5 

4.2 

18.2 

27.7 

30.0 

26.5 

27.8 

23 -5 

9.8 

8.1 

30 

4-5 

4.6 

1.4 

2.4 

1-4 

3-7 

2-7 

That  the  fertility  of  different  classes  is  not  caused  entirely  by 
the  greater  duration  of  marriage  of  the  people  who  marry  at  an 
earlier  age  is  indicated  by  the  English  statistics  on  the  fecundity 
of  marriages  of  different  durations  in  the  different  groups.  Mar- 
riages of  a  given  degree  of  duration  from  two  years  up  to  thirty 
show  uniformly  a  much  higher  fertility  among  the  laborers  than 
among  the  professional  classes. 

Fecundity  According  to  Duration  of  Marriage  of  Followers  of  Different 

Occupations 
(British  Census  of  igii) 


All  dura- 
lions 

0-2  yrs. 

2-5  yrs. 

5-10 
yrs. 

10-75 
yrs. 

15-20 
yrs. 

20-25 

yrs. 

25-30 
yrs. 

0 
5^ 

8 

to 

1 

"a 

e5 

CO 

<3 

3 
to 

t3 

s 
to 

0 

.5 
to 

*-* 

e 

3 

to 

"3 
t5 

1 

3 

to 

General  Population 

100.  0 

lOO.O 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

lOO 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

Coal-miners 

126.  4 
U3-4 

120.  2 

119.  6 

128 
123 

126 
124 

120 
IIS 

n6 
113 

124 
115 

n8 
"9 

128 
114 

112 
119 

130 
"5 

123 

122 

126 
no 

120 
119 

120 

I  OS 

n6 

Agricultural  laborers 

Boilermakers 

no.  I 

107.3 

no 

108 

108 

107 

no 

108 

no 

107 

in 

108 

no 

107 

n6 

107 

Farmers 

100.5 

109. 1 

95 

98 

107 

112 

io8 

115 

101 

no 

98 

I07 

94 

104 

8s 

97 

Carpenters 

9S-3 

98.7 

97 

99 

97 

99 

95 

98 

95 

98 

95 

99 

95 

100 

98 

too 

Cotton  spinners 

91.9 

86.7 

9S 

91 

86 

83 

89 

84 

92 

86 

93 

87 

97 

91 

96 

96 

Cotton  weavers 

8l.2 

79.8 

76.9 

8s.  0 

83 
68 

80 
71 

80 
92 

78 
97 

77 
81 

73 
85 

79 
79 

75 
8s 

84 
76 

79 
82 

8S 
79 

81 
84 

89 
92 

81 
92 

Nonconformist  ministers .  . . 

Clergymen  (C.  of  E.) 

72.0 

82.0 

72 

75 

87 

93 

84 

93 

73 

83 

67 

75 

S8 

67 

63 

71 

Teachers 

70 -3 
64.7 

76.1 
72.1 

68 
8S 

70 
90 

75 
83 

79 
89 

74 
78 

80 
84 

70 
64 

76 
72 

68 
57 

74 
64 

66 

52 

73 
60 

74 
S6 

80 
59 

Doctors 

152  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

An  important  circumstance  that  brings  down  the  birth  rate  is  the 
increasing  urbanization  of  the  population  which  in  many  coun- 
tries has  occurred  to  such  a  remarkable  extent  during  the  past 
half  century.  City  life  affects  fecundity  in  many  ways  which  we 
need  not  here  attempt  to  specify  in  detail.  The  many  conditions 
which  sap  the  vitality  of  the  urban  population,  and  which  are 
partly  expressed  in  the  greater  death  rate,  are  doubtless  respon- 
sible for  much  of  the  decline,  but  the  economic,  psychological  and 
social  factors  probably  operate  more  strongly  also  than  in  the 
rural  districts.  Life  in  the  country  is  more  normal  and  whole- 
some than  in  the  city;  the  children  are  more  of  an  asset  on  the 
farm  than  they  are  in  the  cities  and  towns,  especially  since  the 
passage  of  legislation  restricting  the  employment  of  child  labor; 
facilities  for  rearing  children  are  on  the  average  much  better  in 
the  country;  the  use  of  preventives  and  abortion  are  less  prev- 
alent; and  the  search  for  pleasure  and  the  desire  for  social  life 
have  less  influence  upon  the  country  housewife  than  upon  her 
urban  sister.  In  general,  city  life  may  be  said  to  intensify  the 
action  of  most  of  the  agencies  that  are  responsible  for  the  dimi- 
nution of  births. 

The  inadequate  birth  statistics  of  the  United  States  afford 
little  opportunity  for  comparing  directly  the  urban  and  rural 
birth  rates  for  the  country  in  general,  although  fairly  reliable 
data  are  furnished  by  a  few  of  the  states.  However,  the  census 
returns  give  the  number  of  individuals  under  five  rears  of  age  per 
thousand  women  between  25  and  45  years  in  rural  and  urban 
communities  for  the  United  States  as  a  whole.  These  numbers 
are  as  follows: 

Urban  white 252 

Urban  negro 290 

Rural  white 603 

Rural  negro 652 

With  both  negroes  and  whites  the  number  of  children  under 
five  is  much  larger  in  the  country  than  in  the  cities;  and  the 
same  statement  holds  for  each  group  of  states  taken  separately. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE    153 

Were  we  to  compare  the  number  of  children  under  five  per  thou- 
sand married  women  in  cities  and  in  rural  districts,  the  latter 
would  still  show  a  preponderatingly  larger  number  of  children. 
The  fact  that  there  are  more  children  in  relation  to  the  number 
of  women  in  the  rural  districts  than  in  the  cities  is  very  strong 
evidence  that  the  former  have  the  higher  birth  rate.  This  con- 
clusion is  in  general  corroborated  by  what  is  known  of  the  birth 
rate  in  cities  where  there  is  a  tolerably  adequate  birth  registra- 
tion. The  proportion  of  women  in  the  United  States  who  are  or 
have  been  married  is  greater  in  the  country  than  in  cities  in  the 
ratio  of  64.6  to  57.8  according  to  the  last  (1910)  census.  This  of 
itself  would  naturally  tend  to  increase  the  fecundity  of  rural  dis- 
tricts. On  the  other  hand,  the  proportion  of  women  of  child- 
bearing  age  is  greater  in  cities  than  in  the  country,  the  per  cent  of 
white  women  of  15-44  years  in  the  country  being  21.27  per  cent 
and  in  cities  25.4  per  cent,  and  among  negroes  22.5  per  cent  and 
31  per  cent. 

Cities  usually  contain  a  greater  number  of  bachelors  and 
spinsters  than  are  found  in  the  rural  districts.  Commenting  on 
this  peculiar  circumstance  Weber  remarks:  "A  number  of  expla- 
nations may  be  offered  for  such  an  apparent  contradiction.  For 
one  thing,  rural  emigration  takes  away  most  of  the  bachelors  and 
maids,  leaving  in  the  country  a  population  with  a  large  proportion 
of  married  people;  and  at  the  same  time  that  marriages  are 
comparatively  infrequent,  social  circumstances  may  be  such  as  to 
impel  rural  couples  to  go  to  the  cities  for  the  performances  of 
marriage  ceremony.  Moreover,  in  many  German  cities  it  is  found 
that  city  young  people  often  remove  to  a  suburb  to  begin  house- 
keeping in  a  cottage  of  their  own;  the  marriage  is  thus  credited  to 
the  city,  while  the  census  counts  the  married  couple  in  the  sub- 
urb. The  most  probable  explanation,  however,  is  that  city 
marriages  take  place  at  an  earlier  age  than  country  marriages, 
where  the  city  marriage-rate  is  the  higher  of  the  two,  and  that 
they  are  dissolved  sooner  by  the  relatively  high  mortality  to 
which  males  are  subject  in  the  city.  This  would  account  for  the 
larger  number  of  widows  in  urban  populations.    Divorce  is  also 


154  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

more  frequent  in  the  city.  By  the  re-marriage  of  widowed  and 
divorced  persons,  the  city  marriage-rate  is  raised,  without  any 
real  addition  to  the  number  of  married  people  as  compared  with 
the  rural  community  where  the  first  marriage  would  have  con- 
tinued   longer." 

Differences  in  the  age  composition  of  urban  and  rural  com- 
munities, and  differences  in  the  percentage  of  women  who  are 
married  make  the  crude  birth  rate  a  very  unsafe  index  of  how 
fecundity  is  affected  by  an  urban  environment.  On  account  of 
their  higher  percentage  of  people  of  child  bearing  age  the  crude 
birth  rate  gives  to  cities  too  favorable  a  showing.  Many  married 
women  now  to  go  city  hospitals  to  have  their  children,  and  the 
city  thereby  gets  credit  for  births  which  really  belong  to  the 
country.  And  the  figures  for  urban  birth  rates  are  also  apt  to  be 
higher  than  the  rural  on  account  of  more  adequate  birth  regis- 
tration in  cities  where  the  matter  can  be  brought  under  one 
administrative  control. 

Percentage  Married  in  28  Great  Cities  of  the  U.  S. 

Cities  Whole  Country 

Male     Female  Male    Female 

Foreign  White 67.3        62.7  65.9        68.1 

Native  White 57.1         58.0  66.0        67.9 

"      Foreign 456         54-  48.6         58.8 

Negro 59.5        51.9  69.0        65.0 


59.0        58.8  63.8        66.3 

Perhaps  the  most  important  factor  in  the  situation  in  the 
United  States  is  the  presence  of  a  relatively  large  foreign  popula- 
tion in  the  cities.  The  foreign  elements  marry  early  and  have  a 
high  marriage  rate.  Their  fecundity  for  these  and  other  reasons  is 
high.  In  several  cities  of  the  United  States  we  have  therefore  the 
somewhat  unusual  condition  of  a  relatively  higher  birth  rate  in 
cities  than  in  the  rural  districts  of  the  states  in  which  they  occur. 
Thus  in  Massachusetts  in  1916  the  birth  rate  was  24.8,  the  lowest 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE     155 

on  record  since  1880.  With  the  exception  of  Cambridge  which 
contains  a  rather  high  percentage  of  native  born  stock  all  the 
cities  with  over  100,000  inhabitants  have  a  birth  rate  higher 
than  that  of  the  state  as  a  whole  (Boston,  25.8;  Worcester,  29.6; 
Fall  River  29.2;  Lowell,  30.3;  New  Bedford,  31.0;  Springfield, 
30.8;  Cambridge,  24.5).  In  Maine  in  1916  the  general  birth  rate 
was  20.45;  i^  20  of  the  largest  cities  it  averaged  21.27.  In  the 
towns  with  a  relative  large  number  of  foreign  born  the  birth  rate 
is,  as  a  rule,  relatively  higher  than  in  those  with  more  native  born 
inhabitants.  The  general  birth  rate  for  Michigan  in  19 15  was 
26.6  (death  rate  13.3).  In  all  the  cities  it  was  27.6  (death  rate 
14);  in  cities  with  over  50,000  inhabitants  it  was  31.6  (death  rate 
16.4),  and  in  cities  under  5,000  it  was  23.2  (death  rate  14.5). 
Statistics  from  Ohio  tell  much  the  same  story  as  may  be  seen  in 
the  table: 

Rural  and  Urban  Birth  and  Death  Rates  in  Ohio 


Whole  State. 
Cleveland .  . . 
Cincinnati..  . 

Dayton 

Toledo 

Columbus. . . 


All  Cities, 


Birth  Rate 


igi6 


21 .9 
27.4 
18.4 
22.0 
29.0 
20.0 


23-7 


1917 


23 
29 

19 
23 
30 
19 


251 


Death  Rate 


igi6 


14.41 
14. 

16. 


14 
19 
15 


15-5 


1917 


14 

15 
16 

14 
19 
15 


•75 

•5 

•5 

•7 
.0 

.2 


16. 1 


The  state  of  New  York  gives  statistics  of  the  birth  rate  of 
native  bom  and  foreign  born  women  in  cities  and  rural  districts, 
and  hence  enables  one  to  obtain  direct  evidence  on  the  point  in 
question.  In  1916  the  birth  rate  of  the  entire  state  was  23.4.  In 
New  York  City  which  is  notorious  for  its  high  percentage  of  alien 
population  the  birth  rate  was  24.5;  in  the  rest  of  the  state  it  was 
22.    Taking  all  cities  of  the  state  together,  it  was  25.6,  the  birth 


156  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

rate  in  the  rural  parts  of  the  state  being  only  18.5.  In  almost  all 
the  cities  of  the  state  the  percentage  of  foreign  bom  was  greater 
than  in  the  country.  The  percentage  of  foreign  bom  women  in 
cities  of  over  25,000  was  26.8%  as  compared  with  that  in  the 
whole  state  which  was  only  19.2%.  Particularly  significant  is  the 
fact  that  the  birth  rate  per  1,000  married  women  of  15-44  yrs.  in 
1916  was  72  for  the  native  born  and  177.3  for  the  foreign  born  in 
the  country,  and  69.3  for  native  bom  and  174.8  for  foreign  born 
women  in  the  cities.  Thus  in  both  native  and  foreign  bom  women 
of  child-bearing  age  higher  fecundity  was  shown  by  the  country 
dweller,  but  the  larger  proportion  of  foreign  bom  women  in  cities 
made  the  urban  birth  rate  higher  than  the  rural. 

It  is  probable  that  much  the  same  relations  would  be  found  to 
be  widely  prevalent  in  the  United  States.  In  many  states  there 
are  no  birth  statistics  kept  which  may  be  depended  upon,  and 
even  in  those  in  which  birth  registration  has  been  most  faithfully 
carried  out  there  is  a  considerable  amount  of  inaccuracy.  The  in- 
creasing birth  rate  which  some  states  of  the  registration  area 
show  in  the  last  decade  is,  I  suspect,  largely,  if  not  mainly,  the 
result  of  improving  registration  of  births.  The  low  birth  rate  and 
the  surprising  irregularities  in  the  records  which  are  shown  by  the 
statistics  of  only  a  few  years  back  naturally  destroy  confidence  in 
the  data.  I  have  taken  only  the  most  recent  available  reports 
from  states  in  which  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  records  are 
sufficiently  complete  to  warrant  basing  conclusions  upon.  In 
these  states  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  rural  birth  rates  are  too 
low,  as  it  is  probable  that  births  have  been  more  carefully  re- 
corded in  cities  then  in  the  country.  However,  the  inaccuracies 
are,  I  believe,  not  sufficient  to  seriously  modify  the  conclusions 
drawn  from  the  data. 

The  evidence  afforded  by  the  birth  statistics  of  urban  and 
rural  communities  is  supported  by  the  careful  compilations  of  the 
Immigration  Commission  on  the  birth  rates  of  native  and  foreign 
born  women.  In  Rhode  Island  the  average  number  of  children 
bom  to  women  under  45  who  were  married  from  10-20  years  in 
urban  and  rural  communities  is  indicated  below: 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE     157 


Number  of  Children  per  Married  Women  of  15-45  Years  in 

Rhode  Island 


Native  white,  native  parentage .  . .  . 
"  "      foreign  parentage. .  .  . 

Foreign  born 

Canadian  English,  ist  generation.  . 

2d 
Canadian  French,  ist  generation. .  . 
i "              "         2d          "       . . . 
EngHsh,  ist  generation 

2d  "         

German  ist  generation 

2d  "         

Irish,       ist  "         

2d  "  

Italian 

Scotch,   ist         "         

2d  "         

Swedes,  ist         "         

2d  "         

Other  foreigners,  ist  generation. .  .  . 

2d 

Native  negro 


In  Cities 
over  10,000 


In  Remainder 
of  State 


With  the  exception  of  the  Irish  with  their  higher  urban  birth 
rate  and  the  Italians  with  the  same  birth  rate  in  city  and  country, 
all  classes,  the  foreign  born  as  well  as  of  the  native  population, 
have  more  children  per  married  woman  of  child-bearing  age  in  the 
country  than  in  the  city.  Also  the  percentage  of  childless  mar- 
riages is  greater  in  the  cities  for  both  native  (19.4  urban,  13, 
rural)  and  foreign  born  (8.4  urban,  6.5  rural). 

The  study  of  Cleveland  in  relation  to  48  predominantly  rural 
counties  of  Ohio  showed  similar  relations  to  those  found  in  Rhode 


158 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


Island.     The  average  number  of  children  per  married  woman 
under  45  who  had  been  married  10-19  years  is  shown  below: 


Number  of  Children  per  Married  Woman  of  15-45  Y^a^s  in  Urban  and 

Rural  Districts  of  Ohio 


No.  Children  per  Married  Woman 

Cleveland 

Rural  Counties 

All  classes 

4 
2.4 

3-3 
4-7 

A 

Native  white,  native  parentage .... 
Native  white,  foreign  parentage. . . . 
Foreign  white 

3-4 

3-8 
4.6 

Most  of  the  foreign  nationalities  taken  singly  showed  a  higher 
fecundity  in  the  rural  counties,  although  exceptions  occurred  in 
the  Bohemians,  ist  generation  of  Hungarians,  ist  generation  of 
the  Irish,  Poles  and  Russians.  "In  Cleveland,"  says  the  Report, 
*'the  average  number  of  children  (2.4)  borne  by  the  native  white 
women  of  native  parentage  is  only  slightly  greater  than  half  the 
average  (4.3)  borne  by  the  white  women  of  foreign  parentage.  In 
the  selected  rural  counties  the  average  number  (3.4)  borne  by  the 
native  white  women  is  three-fourths  as  large  as  the  average  (4.5) 
borne  by  the  women  of  foreign  parentage.  The  average  for  the 
native  white  women  of  native  parentage  is  larger  in  the  rural 
counties  than  in  Cleveland.  This  is  also  true  of  the  average  for 
the  women  of  foreign  parentage,  but  not  in  so  marked  a  degree. 
In  fact,  there  are  some  foreign  nationalities  which  appear  to  have 
larger  families  in  the  city  than  in  the  country.  But  the  difference 
is  not  very  marked  and  may  be  due  to  factors  which  are  more  or 
less  accidental  and  have  no  causal  relation  to  urban  or  rural 
influences."  These  facts  are  especially  interesting  when  it  is 
recalled  that  the  crude  birth  rate  of  Cleveland  is  very  much 
higher  than  it  is  in  Ohio  as  a  whole,  and  still  higher  than  in  rural 
Ohio. 

In  Minnesota  a  comparison  of  the  number  of  children  of  native 
born  and  foreign  born  women  in  Minneapolis  and  2 1  rural  coun- 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE    159 

ties  showed  a  high  fecundity  for  the  rural  women.  "In  Minne- 
apolis/' says  the  report  just  quoted,"  the  average  number  of 
children  (24)  borne  by  the  native  white  American  women  is  but 
two-thirds  the  average  (3.8)  borne  by  the  white  women  of  foreign 
parentage.  In  the  rural  counties  the  average  is  3.4  for  the  native 
American  women,  being  again  only  two-thirds  as  large  as  the 
average  (5.2)  for  the  women  of  foreign  parentage.  Thus  the 
average  is  larger  in  the  rural  counties,  both  for  the  native  Amer- 
ican and  the  foreign  women." 

In  Ohio  and  Minnesota  as  in  Rhode  Island  the  percentage  of 
childless  marriages  is  much  greater  among  the  city  women,  both 
native  as  well  as  foreign  born.  The  per  cent  of  childless  marriages 
in  Cleveland  was  for  native  parentage  15.2%;  for  foreign  paren- 
tage, 6.3%;  in  the  rural  counties  the  ratios  were  5.7%,  and  5.1% 
respectively,  in  Minnesota  the  per  cent  of  childless  marriages 
was  in  Minneapolis  12.7  among  women  of  native  parentage,  and 
6.9  among  those  of  foreign  extraction;  in  the  21  rural  counties  the 
ratios  were  5.1%  for  native  and  only  2.7%  for  foreign  women. 
In  all  states  the  percentage  of  childless  marriages  was  greater  in 
the  second  generation  of  the  foreign  bom  than  in  the  first. 

The  data  furnished  by  the  Immigration  Commission  therefore 
agree  with  those  from  New  York  and  elsewhere  in  showing  that 
the  effect  of  urban  life  is  to  depress  the  birth  rate,  and  that  the 
relatively  high  birth  rates  of  American  cities  are  due  mainly  to 
their  relatively  high  percentage  of  inhabitants  of  foreign  extrac- 
tion. The  fact  that  the  crude  birth  rate  is  frequently  higher  in 
cities  than  in  the  country  has  given  rise  to  erroneous  opinions  in 
regard  to  the  actual  fecundity  of  urban  populations.  Thus 
Bailey  remarks  in  his  valuable  work,  Modern  Social  Conditions ^ 
"It  was  formerly  the  case  that  cities  were  '  man  consuming  ',  re- 
quiring that  their  numbers  be  kept  up  by  immigration  from  the 
country.  As  time  went  on  conditions  changed,  until  to-day  the 
cities  furnish  a  large  proportion  of  their  own  increase.  At  first  the 
birth  rate  in  the  country  was  higher  than  in  the  cities,  but  grad- 
ually that  in  the  cities  has  gained  until  it  has  surpassed  the 
country  rate."    Weber  states  in  his  Growth  of  Cities  that  we  are 


i6o 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


hardly  justified  "in  making  the  generalization  that  city  marriages 
are  less  fruitful  than  country  marriages.  Indeed,  the  opposite  is 
true  in  several  countries,  if  the  great  cities  be  excepted."  Most 
of  the  data  appealed  to  in  support  of  this  statement  are  derived 
from  statistics  in  the  90's  and  previously.  Weber's  work  was 
published  in  1899,  and  whatever  may  have  been  the  relations  at 
that  time  it  is  evident  that  urban  birth  rates  have  since  fallen 
more  rapidly  than  the  rural.  Sweden  which  at  the  time  Weber 
wrote  had  a  higher  birth  rate  in  the  city  than  in  the  country  has 
now  just  the  reverse.  This  is  shown  in  the  following  table  of  the 
birth  rate  in  the  cities  and  rural  districts  of  that  country: 

Births  per  1,000  in  Sweden 
In  City  mid  in  Country 


Date 


1821-30. . 
1830-40. . 
1840-50. . 
1850-60. . 
1860-70. . 
1870-80. . 
1880-90. . 
1890-1900 
1900-1910 


City 

Country 

31  64 

34-97 

29 

14 

3172 

29 

39 

31.28 

32 

56 

32.81 

32 

95 

31  19 

32 

13 

30.21 

31 

07 

28.65 

27 

07 

27. 16 

25 

87 

25-74 

Date 


1906. 
1907. 
1908, 
1909, 
1910. 
1911. 
1912, 

I9I3' 
1914, 

1915 
1916 


City 

Cow 

26.15 

25- 

26. 12 

25- 

26.80 

25- 

25-71 

25- 

24-58 

24. 

23  83 

24. 

23-03 

24. 

22.85 

23- 

21.63 

23- 

20. 16 

22. 

19-52 

21  . 

56 

35 
35 
54 
09 

05 
06 

45 

13 

70 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE    i6i 


In  Italy  in  1908  and  191 1  the  birth  rate  of  cities  with  over 
100,000  inhabitants  was  as  follows : 

Birth  Rates  in  Italian  Cities 


City 


Rome .  . . 

Venice.. . 
Turin.  .  . 
Livorno . 
Genoa. .  . 
Florence. 
Milan .  . . 


Birth  Rate 

igo8 

IQII 

24 -3 

26.5 

29.4 

26.0 

20.0 

17.7 

24.8 

24-5 

22.7 

21 .9 

21.0 

21-5 

23-9 

23.8 

City 


Messina^ 
Naples.  . 
Palermo . 
Catania.. 


Bologna. 


Italy  as  a  whole 


Birth  Rate 


IQ08 
29 -5 


29 

30 
33 
19 


33-4 


IQII 

37-2 
25s 
30-7 
28.5 
22.2 

31-5 


1  On  account  of  the  earthquake  there  were  5,021  births  in  1908,  but  the  number 
increased  to  16,210  births  in  1911. 

In  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  the  crude  birth  rate  in  many  cities 
is  higher  than  in  the  countries  in  which  they  are  located.  Rela- 
tions of  city  and  country  in  Great  Britain  are  anomalous  for 
several  reasons;  nevertheless  the  country  districts,  so  far  as  our 
information  goes,  have  a  somewhat  higher  fecundity  when  this  is 
estimated  by  the  proportion  of  children  to  i  ,000  married  women  of 
child-bearing  age.  As  stated  in  the  report  of  the  National  Birth 
Rate  Commission  on  the  Declining  Birth  Rate,  "In  191 1  the 
legitimate  birth  rates  in  terms  of  1,000  married  women,  aged 
i5~4Sj  were  for  County  Boroughs  195,  for  London  199,  Urban 
Districts  192  and  Rural  Districts  204." 

In  her  report  on  the  decline  in  the  birth  rate  in  the  north  of 
England  Miss  Elderton  states  that  in  order  of  decrease  in  the 
birth  rate  come  ''(i)  textile  and  woolen  towns,  (2)  engineering 
and  metal  working  towns,  (3)  mining  districts,  and  lastly  (4) 
purely  rural  districts." 

In  France  in  1 913  the  crude  birth  rate  in  cities  of  10,000  or  over 
averaged  18.67.  The  birth  rate  for  the  rest  of  the  population  was 
19.45  and  for  France  as  a  whole  18.8.  The  rate  for  the  rural 
districts  was  exceeded  only  by  that  of  the  towns  between  5,000 


l62 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


and  10,000  inhabitants.     The  conditions  just  before  the  wal 
(1913)  are  shown  in  the  following  table: 

Births,  Deaths  and  Marriages  in  France  for  ipij 


Births 

Deaths 

Born  Dead 

Marriages 

Divorces 

Paris 

17. 12 
18.98 
18.23 

18.33 
19.06 
20.46 

15-67 
19.60 

19.07 

20. 10 

19-74 
18.76 

1.49 

1-25 
1.09 

0.96 

II. 21 

8.47 
8-15 
7 

1 .07 
.61 
•58 
.46 

Cities  100-500,000 

"      30-100,000 

"      20-  30,000 

"      10-  20,000 

"        5-  10,000 

Average  of  cities 

Average  of  rest  of  France 

18.67 
19-45 

18.68 

It  will  be  observed  that  Paris  has  a  crude  birth  rate  lower  than 
any  other  class  of  cities,  and  that  in  general  (the  cities  of  100,000- 
500,000  proving  an  exception)  the  birth  rate  increases  as  the  size 
of  the  city  diminishes. 

It  is  in  Germany,  which  furnishes  a  greater  wealth  of  data  on 
the  subject  than  any  other  country,  that  we  find  the  clearest 
evidence  of  the  relative  unfertility  of  city  stocks.  The  subject 
has  been  treated  by  a  considerable  number  of  writers  (Mombert, 
Borntrager,  Kriege,  Roesle,  Kaup,  Stenger,  Ballod)  whose  ver- 
dicts are  in  general  agreement.  The  following  table  gives  a  very 
general  survey  of  the  relations: 

Births  Per  1,000  Married  Women  of  Child-Bearing  Age  in  Germany 


Y£4rs 

Entire  State 

In  Cities 

In  the  Country 

1880-81 

1885-86 

1890-91 

1805-06 

322 

329 
328 

317 

305 

305 

297 
279 
266 

329 

347 
343 
337 

1900-01 

THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE    163 

Mombert  from  whom  the  above  table  is  taken  states  that 
legitimate  fertility  in  the  cities  as  compared  with  the  land  is 
lower,  has  declined  more  rapidly  and  began  to  decline  earlier.  In 
the  large  cities  (Grosstadte)  the  fall  in  the  birth  rate  has  been 
especially  rapid.  All  of  the  large  cities  showed  a  lower  corrected 
birth  rate  in  1901  than  the  country.  The  average  children  per 
1,000  married  women  (15-45  yrs)  in  cities  of  40,000  in  1901  was 
238  as  compared  with  the  rural  rate  of  337,  but  this  rate  was 
higher  than  that  of  most  of  the  larger  cities  of  that  year  (Berlin, 
172,  Breslau,  234,  Frankfurt,  208,  Munich,  225,  Dresden,  211, 
Essen,  328,  Hamburg,  194,  Leipzig,  209). 

Data  on  urban  and  rural  birth  rates  are  often  greatly  affected 
by  many  factors  which  tend  to  obscure  the  influence  of  cities 
per  se.  Much  depends  upon  the  kind  of  industry  in  which  the 
city  populations  are  engaged.  Manufacturing  cities  have,  as  a 
rule,  a  higher  birth  rate  than  cities  which  are  chiefly  engaged  in 
commerce,  or  which  are  mainly  residential.  Often  the  racial 
composition  of  cities  differs  considerably  from  that  of  the  sur- 
rounding country,  as  is  very  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  United 
States.  To  a  less  extent  this  is  true  in  Europe  where  the  percen- 
tage of  persons  born  outside  the  country  is  greater  in  cities,  and 
especially  in  large  cities,  than  in  rural  districts.  Cities  tend  to  be 
centers  of  racial  mixtures,  whatever  this  may  imply  as  regards 
the  birth  rate  and  the  quality  of  the  offspring  of  mixed  marriages. 
It  is  probable  that  the  ratio  of  males  to  females  would  be  increased 
by  this  circumstance,  but  what  other  biological  effects  would 
follow  is  doubtful.  Since  the  inhabitants  of  cities  may  differ  from 
those  of  the  surrounding  country  in  race,  religion,  education  and 
prosperity,  peculiar  combinations  of  circumstances  may  render 
even  the  corrected  birth  rate  of  cities  higher  than  that  of  the 
country.  There  is  abundant  evidence,  however,  that  the  usual 
effect  of  an  urban  environment  is  to  check  the  propagation 
of  the  race. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  one  factor  in  the  decline  of  the  birth 
rate  is  the  reduction  in  infant  mortality  which  has  accompanied 
the  fall  of  the  death  rate  in  recent  decades.     The  correlation 


i64  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

between  a  high  birth  rate  and  a  high  infantile  death  rate  is  not 
simply  a  matter  of  cause  and  effect  as  so  many  of  the  Neo-Mal- 
thusians  assume.  While  large  families  may  not  be  so  adequately 
supported  on  a  small  income  as  small  ones,  the  association  of  high 
birth  rates  and  high  infant  death  rates  is  to  a  large  extent  due  to 
the  fact  that  both  have  a  common  cause  in  the  lack  of  knowledge 
or  prudence  in  the  parents.  In  famihes  in  which  the  number  of 
births  is  voluntarily  limited,  the  death  of  a  child  is  apt  to  be 
followed  by  the  birth  of  another  to  replace  the  loss,  as  is  very 
commonly  the  case  in  France.  But  even  where  there  is  no  at- 
tempt to  regulate  the  propagation  of  the  race  there  are  certain 
physiological  factors  which  tend  to  bring  about  a  correlation 
between  high  infant  mortality  and  a  high  birth  rate.  It  is  a 
well-known  fact  that,  while  a  child  is  nursing,  the  mother  is  much 
less  apt  to  conceive.  Even  primitive  peoples  often  take  advan- 
tage of  this  fact  and  nurse  their  offspring  for  a  long  time  in  order 
to  avoid  having  others.  The  death  of  an  infant  and  the  conse- 
quent interruption  of  lactation  is  commonly  followed  by  another 
conception.  The  more  rapidly  infants  die  the  more  rapidly, 
therefore,  new  conceptions  are  apt  to  occur. 

The  birth  rate  has  fallen  in  several  cities  in  Germany  much 
faster  than  the  infant  mortality.  In  Munich,  for  instance,  the 
birth  rate  fell  from  1876-80  to  1906-09  over  three  times  as  much 
as  the  infant  mortaHty,  and  in  349  German  cities  of  over  15,000 
inhabitants  the  birth  rate  fell  from  1 901  to  1909  over  three  times 
as  much  as  the  infant  death  rate.  Mombert  has  pointed  out  that 
in  many  cities  and  districts  (Frankfurt,  Stettin,  Cologne,  etc.) 
in  Germany  the  infant  death  rate  has  risen  while  the  birth  rate 
has  decreased,  and  in  a  few  cities  the  birth  rate  has  increased 
while  the  infant  death  rate  has  decreased. 

France  shows  an  unfortunate  condition  in  having  a  low  birth 
rate  and  a  high  infant  death  rate. 

The  classes  in  v/hich  the  birth  rate  has  fallen  most  are  those  in 
which  the  habit  of  nursing  offspring  has  most  fallen  into  disuse. 
The  interruption  of  lactation  would  naturally  tend  to  increase 
fecundity,  but  it  has  not  done  this,  largely,  no  doubt,  because  it 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE    165 

has  not  been  allowed  to  do  so.  We  cannot,  therefore,  for  several 
reasons  attribute  to  reduced  infant  mortality  a  large  part  of  the 
decline  of  the  birth  rate,  although  this  has  doubtless  been  one 
factor. 

The  influence  of  venereal  diseases  upon  the  decline  of  the 
birth  rate,  although  undoubtedly  considerable,  is  difficult  to 
estimate.  No  reliable  data  exists  as  to  the  proportion  of  the 
population  affected  by  these  diseases,  although  their  prevalence 
is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge.^  That  the  two  most  common 
venereal  maladies  are  potent  causes  of  sterility  has  long  been 
recognized.  Gonorrhoea,  which,  according  to  several  medical 
authorities,  has  at  one  time  or  another  afifected  more  than  50  per 
cent  of  the  adult  male  population,  is  responsible  for  a  large 
amount  of  sterility,  the  extent  of  which  the  medical  profession  has 
only  recently  come  to  appreciate.  Through  obstructing  the  vas 
deferens  or  epididymis,  as  well  as  in  other  ways,  gonorrhoea  is  a 
not  infrequent  cause  of  sterility  in  the  male  sex.  Furbringer 
attributes  one-third  of  all  sterile  marriages  to  this  cause.  Kohern 
found  in  96  sterile  marriages  30  per  cent  due  to  the  absence  of 
sperms  in  the  seminal  fluid  of  the  husband.  The  greatest  damage 
is  done,  however,  by  the  transfer  of  the  infection  to  wives,  which 
often  takes  place  even  after  the  disease  has  apparently  ceased  in 
the  husband.  Gonococcus  infection,  according  to  the  moderate 
estimate  of  Prinzing,  causes  13  per  cent  of  sterile  marriages. 
Noggerath  places  the  percentage  of  sterility  in  woman  due  to  this 
cause  as  high  as  50,  and  Neisser  believes  that  45  per  cent  of  sterile 
marriages  are  due  to  gonorrhoea  of  one  or  the  other  sex.  This  dis- 
ease is  a  frequent  cause  of  failure  to  produce  more  children  after 
the  birth  of  the  first  child  owing  to  the  rapid  extension  of  the  in- 
fection after  childbirth.  The  extent  to  which  complete  or  partial 
steriUty  is  due  directly  or  indirectly  to  this  cause  must  be  very 
considerable,  although  it  is  not  capable  of  precise  measurement. 

^  The  best  index  of  the  prevalence  of  venereal  diseases  in  the  U.  S.  is  afforded 
by  the  examination  of  recruits  in  the  late  war.  According  to  the  Report  of  the 
Surgeon  General  for  1919,  5.6  per  cent  were  found  to  be  infected  at  the  time  of  the 
draft.  This  figure  includes  negroes  among  whom  venereal  infections  were  about 
seven  times  as  frequent  as  among  the  whites. 


t66  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

That  syphilis  is  another  potent  factor  in  reducing  the  birth  rate 
has  long  been  recognized.  Syphilis  is  a  common  cause  of  abortion 
and  of  still  births,  but  the  percentage  due  to  this  disease  appears 
not  to  be  accurately  ascertained.  Dr.  Willey  thinks  that  about 
32.8  per  cent  of  total  still  births  are  due  to  syphilis.  Dr.  Thos. 
Barlow  thinks  that  the  majority  are  the  result  of  this  cause. 
According  to  Dr.  Prince  Morrow  {Social  Diseases  and  Marriage) 
"60  per  cent  of  children  born  of  syphiHtic  mothers  die  in  utero 
or  soon  after  birth.  Records  of  the  Leurrenne  Hospital  which 
refer  almost  exclusively  to  syphiUs  in  prostitutes  show  that  of 
165  pregnancies  with  maternal  syphilis,  145  which  terminated 
fatally,  while  in  only  22  did  the  infants  survive,  that  is,  only 
I  child  in  7  pregnancies."  Syphilitic  mothers  often  produce 
several  abortions,  after  which  they  may  bear  living  offspring, 
who,  however,  being  affected  with  hereditary  syphilis  are  apt  to 
die  young.  The  attempt  of  the  National  Birth  Rate  Commission 
to  elicit  some  information  from  various  experts  who  were  ex- 
amined as  to  the  prevalence  of  abortion  due  to  syphilis,  yielded 
little  but  guarded  expressions  of  opinion.  Reliable  data  on 
abortions  are  practically  impossible  to  procure.  While  abortion 
has  become  more  frequent  in  recent  years,  the  increase  is  doubt- 
less to  be  attributed  largely  to  the  employment  of  artificial  means. 

Venereal  diseases  are,  as  a  rule,  notoriously  more  prevalent 
in  cities  than  in  rural  districts,^  and  hence  may  constitute  an 
important  factor  in  the  greater  relative  reduction  of  the  urban 
birth  rate.  One  of  the  most  thorough  studies  on  this  subject 
was  made  by  Guttstadt  who  sent  a  questionnaire  to  the  physi- 
cians in  Prussia,  concerning  the  number  of  venereal  cases  treated 
in  April,  1900.  Of  every  10,000  adult  inhabitants  of  Prussia  there 
were  treated : 

^  The  relatively  high  rural  rate  for  gonorrhoea  shown  by  American  recruits  for 
the  recent  war  is  largely  due  to  the  great  prevalence  of  this  disease  in  the  negr<j 
population  which  is  still  mainly  rural. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE    167 


Venereal  Diseases  in  Prussian  Cities 


Males 

Females 

In  Berlin 

141-9 
99.9 

58.4 

45-1 

7-9 

45-7 
27.9 

17.6 

16.9 

2.7 

In  17  other  cities  of  over  100,000 

In  42  cities  of  30,000  to  100,000 

In  47  cities  with  less  than  30,000 

In  other  cities  and  rural  districts 

Naturally  there  are  sources  of  error  in  these  data  owing  to  the 
tendency  of  individuals  to  go  to  larger  cities  for  treatment.  That 
they  indicate  a  greater  liability  to  infection  in  the  larger  cities, 
however,  is  confirmed  by  data  on  the  infections  of  recruits  to  the 
army  from  various  parts  of  Prussia.  Of  10,000  recruits  in  1903- 
05  there  were  venereal  cases  as  follows : 

Venereal  Cases  in  Urban  and  Rural  Recruits  in  Prussia 

Berlin 413 

27  other  cities  over  100,000 158 

26      "        "     50-100,000 102 

23      "        "     25-  50,000 80 

Small  cities  and  rural  districts 44 

Dr.  Blaschko  contributes  further  to  the  bad  reputation  of 
Berlin  in  his  estimate  that  of  1,000  men  between  20  and  30  years 
nearly  200  become  infected  with  gonorrhoea  and  24  with  syphilis 
per  year,  and  that  of  men  who  marry  after  30,  each  has  had 
gonorrhoea  twice  on  the  average,  and  every  one  in  4  or  5  has 
syphilis.  This  is  apt  to  be  an  over-estimate.  The  Berlin  Gewerb- 
skrankenverein  reports  the  yearly  number  of  venereal  infections 
as  having  increased  from  53.6  per  thousand  male  members  in 
1892-95,  to  87.1  per  thousand  male  members  in  1906-7.  Of 
course  a  considerable  number  of  cases  may  not  have  been  reported 
to  the  organization,  so  that  the  estimates  are  minimal.  Dr. 
W.  Claasen,  on  the  basis  of  medical  reports  on  syphilis  in  medical 
benefit  organizations,  estimates  that  from  22.5  per  cent  to  34 
per  cent  of    all  Berlin  workers  contract  syphilis  at  some  time 


i68  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

during  their  lives.  Still  higher  estimates  are  made  by  Lenz, 
although  they  are  based  on  very  unreHable  methods.  In  Den- 
mark (1886-95)  venereal  infection  in  Copenhagen,  other  cities 
and  in  the  country  bore  the  ratio  of  201,  30,  and  4  respectively 
(Prinzing.) 

It  is  impossible  on  the  basis  of  any  statistics  that  have  been 
compiled  to  ascertain  whether  venereal  diseases  have  been  in- 
creasing or  decreasing.  Medical  opinion  on  the  subject  is  very 
divergent.  It  is  only  recently  possible,  owing  to  the  discovery 
of  the  Wassermann  and  other  tests  for  syphilis,  to  gain  any 
idea  as  to  the  extent  to  which  this  scourge  is  disseminated 
among  the  population,  and  no  data  have  yet  been  compiled  that 
will  give  an  accurate  idea  of  its  prevalence.  We  are  much  less 
able  to  estimate  its  prevalence  in  times  past. 

Since  venereal  diseases  are  much  more  common  in  cities,  and 
since  the  city  population  has  been  increasing  at  a  relatively  rapid 
rate,  it  would  seem  likely  that  venereal  diseases  in  cities  have  been 
on  the  increase.  And  if  they  have  increased  in  the  cities  it  would 
be  only  natural  that  with  our  greatly  increased  means  of  travel 
they  would  be  disseminated  into  the  small  towns  and  rural 
districts,  leading  to  an  increase  also  in  these  communities.  We 
are  perhaps  justified  in  attributing  the  tendency  of  the  birth 
rate  to  fall  more  rapidly  in  the  cities  in  part  to  the  greater  preva- 
lence of  venereal  disease  in  urban  communities.  But  how  far 
these  diseases  have  produced  a  fall  of  the  general  birth  rate  is 
uncertain. 

Of  all  the  factors  influencing  the  birth  rate,  it  is  probable  that 
the  most  potent  is  the  voluntary  restriction  of  births.  In  many 
families  children  do  not  come  because  they  are  not  wanted,  and 
in  many  others  the  number  of  children  is  limited  to  two  or  three. 
The  custom  of  standardizing  the  family,  so  common  in  France,  is 
rapidly  spreading  to  other  lands,  especially  among  the  members 
of  the  higher  social  strata.  Large  families  are  no  longer  in  style, 
and  parents  who  have  many  children  are  often  regarded  as 
guilty  of  a  violation  of  good  form,  if  they  do  not  incur  a  more 
serious  judgment. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE     169 

The  means  resorted  to  in  order  to  avoid  the  responsibility  of 
parenthood  vary  in  different  households.  The  effective  method 
of  continence  in  marriage  naturally  does  not  commend  itself  to 
the  rank  and  file  of  the  human  species.  However  much  moralists 
may  condemn  the  employment  of  other  means  of  preventing  the 
arrival  of  the  unwanted  child,  most  of  those  who  regulate  their 
families  will  doubtless  continue  to  follow  prevalent  customs. 
The  two  methods  of  interfering  with  the  natural  course  of  repro- 
duction are  abortion  and  prevention  of  conception.  The  former 
method,  consisting  as  it  does  in  the  destruction  of  a  life  already 
developing  toward  a  human  personality,  is  condemned  in  most 
countries  as  essentially  a  form  of  murder.  Procuring  abortion, 
either  by  the  mother's  own  act  or  through  the  agency  of  another 
person  is  commonly  adjudged  a  criminal  offense,  and  any  physi- 
cian or  surgeon  who  is  an  accomplice  in  the  crime  is  liable  to  more 
or  less  severe  penalties,  unless  the  operation  is  one  which  the 
safety  or  health  of  the  mother  demands.  Notwithstanding  all 
the  legislation  against  the  traffic  in  child  murder,  there  are  very 
few  convictions  on  this  score.  The  business  flourishes  in  most 
civilized  countries  under  the  patronage  of  the  rich  and  influential 
as  well  as  the  poor  wage  earners,  who  wish  to  avoid  the  burden  of 
large  families,  and  the  unfortunate  girls  who  would  avoid  the 
disgrace  of  unmarried  motherhood.  It  is  the  general  consensus  of 
opinion  among  writers  on  the  subject  that  abortion  is  on  the 
increase,  that  it  is  more  prevalent  in  the  more  civilized  com- 
munities, and  more  common  in  cities  than  in  the  country.  What 
primitive  peoples  effect  through  infanticide,  the  modem  woman 
accompHshes  through  recourse  to  the  drug  store  or  the  gyneco- 
logical expert.  The  thinly  veiled  advertisements  of  professional 
abortionists  are  to  be  found  in  the  papers  of  nearly  every  city. 
There  is  reason  to  believe  that  in  the  United  States  and  elsewhere, 
conditions  are  becoming  general  such  as  Dr.  Iseman  has  de- 
scribed for  New  York.  "So  general  is  the  demand  and  so  common 
the  practice,  that  in  the  competition  for  the  traffic  the  ordinary 
criminal  operator  has  been  practically  driven  out  of  the  business 
by  the  highly  skilled  and  respectable  members  of  the  medical 


I70  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

profession.  Up  to  a  few  years  ago  there  still  remained  some 
rivalry'  on  the  part  of  the  lodge  doctor,  the  advertising  specialist, 
the  foreign  midwife,  the  massage  dens,  and  the  manicurist,  but 
even  these  had  to  go  before  the  more  dignified,  less  dangerous,  and 
lawful  abortions  performed  at  the  dispensaries,  clinics,  and  in- 
firmaries which  seemingly  for  this  purpose  have  multiplied  in 
ever}^  section  of  the  city. 

"With  the  advent  of  this  benevolent  abortion  not  alone  has 
the  regular  medical  procurer  been  shorn  of  the  patronage,  but 
with  him  has  also  gone  that  cautious  old  tinkerer,  the  family 
physician  and  abortionist,  both  being  superseded  by  those 
brilliant  specialists  of  the  art,  the  gynaecologists,  whose  philan- 
thropic and  unfailing  tomahawks  are  whetted  for  every  embryo 
daring  to  stray  within  the  confines  of  a  woman's  clinic." 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  at  present  many  women  whenever 
they  perceive  the  first  signs  of  pregnancy  rush  to  their  physician 
for  relief.  The  number  of  such  early  abortions  is  naturally  not 
subject  to  statistical  investigation.  But  it  is  a  common  opinion 
among  medical  men  that  they  are  exceedingly  common,  and  are 
becoming  increasingly  prevalent.  The  special  committee  on 
criminal  abortion  appointed  by  the  Michigan  State  Board  of 
Health  stated  in  their  report,  "To  so  great  an  extent  is  this  now 
practiced  by  American  Protestant  women  that  by  the  calculation 
of  one  of  the  committee,  based  upon  correspondence  with  nearly 
one  hundred  physicians,  there  comes  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
profession  seventeen  abortions  to  every  one  hundred  pregnancies; 
to  these  the  committee  believe  may  be  added  as  many  more  that 
never  come  to  the  physician's  knowledge,  making  34  per  cent  or 
one- third  of  all  cases  ending  in  miscarriage;  that  in  the  United 
States  the  number  is  not  less  than  100,000,  and  the  number  of 
women  who  die  from  its  immediate  effects  not  less  than  6,000  per 
annum."  (Rep.  State  Bd.  Health  Mich.,  1881,  104-6.)  This 
estimate  was  made  over  36  years  ago.  More  recently  a  prominent 
student  of  the  subject,  Dr.  W.  J.  Robinson,  estimates  that 
probably  from  one  to  three  million  abortions  are  practiced  an- 
nually in  the  United  States. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE     171 

A  very  illuminating  study  of  the  problem  has  been  made  by 
Miss  Elderton  in  her  Report  on  the  English  Birth  Rate.  As  the 
conditions  portrayed  are  quite  typical  for  industrial  communities 
in  this  country  as  well  as  England,  and  probably  other  countries 
also,  it  will  be  of  interest  to  quote  rather  extensively  from  this 
report.  Speaking  of  the  city  of  York,  Miss  Elderton  says,  "Pre- 
ventive measures  appear  to  be  largely  used  by  nearly  all  sections 
of  the  population  in  York,  although  some  of  our  correspondents 
are  not  acquainted  with  the  sale  of  preventatives  in  public  places. 
One  correspondent  finds  the  source  of  the  falling  birth  rate  not  in 
economic  depression,  but  in  the  rapid  growth  of  prosperity  among 
the  working  classes  in  York,  and  in  particular  in  the  exceptional 
opportunities  for  the  remunerative  employment  of  unmarried 
women.  These  unmarried  women — often  several  in  one  home, 
earning  good  wages — connote  that  the  standard  of  home  comforts 
is  a  high  one.  When  these  women  marry,  they  will  not  put  up 
with  large  families  and  the  resulting  poverty,  incessant  toil  and 
drudgery;  if  they  have  any  knowledge  at  all  of  the  means  of 
prevention,  they  check  births.  This  correspondent  does  not 
think  there  is  a  large  recourse  to  methods  of  abortion,  but  that 
there  is  greater  acquaintance  with  methods  for  preventing  con- 
ception. Indirectly,  therefore,  the  employment  of  women,  it  is 
suggested,  has  raised  the  standard  of  living  and  lowered  the 
birth  rate.  A  second  correspondent  finds  that  preventives  are 
used  more  freely  in  the  upper  classes  of  York  society,  the  county 
and  military  sets,  and  to  a  somewhat  lesser  extent  in  the  middle 
and  lower  middle  classes.  In  the  artisan  classes  means  of  preven- 
tion are  not  so  often  adopted,  but  if  pregnancy  does  occur  aborti- 
facients  are  resorted  to.  The  poorest  classes  of  all,  those  who 
caimot  provide  for  themselves,  but  seek  public  dispensaries  and 
maternity  charities  for  attendance,  do  not  appear  to  limit  their 
families,  for  very  many  have  large  families  running  up  to  thirteen 
or  more.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  if  certain  members  of  this  class 
used  preventives,  they  would  not  come  under  observation  to  the 
same  extent  as  the  normally  fertile.  .  .  .  The  upper  classes  do 
not  as  a  rule  come  under  the  chemist's  observation,  they  order 


172  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

from  wholesale  dealers  and  expense  is  no  consideration;  they  use 
mechanical  more  frequently  than  drug  preventives.  In  the  case 
of  abortion,  there  is  no  connivance  with  the  medical  profession, 
but  women  apply  for  a  medicine  on  the  ground  of  some  slight 
irregularity  and  then  take  such  large  doses  as  to  produce  the 
desired  effect.  The  middle  class  also  as  a  rule  adopts  Neo-Mal- 
thusian  practices;  appUances  are  purchased  in  chemists'  shops, 
but  they  are  also  obtained  from  various  barbers  and  tobacconists. 
Among  the  very  poor,  although  the  desire  to  limit  the  family  is 
filtering  down  to  them,  more  natural  lives  are  led;  they  cannot  in 
fact  afford  drugs,  etc.,  but  they  are  less  'sophisticated'  and  act 
more  instinctively.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  habit  of  artificial 
limitation  is  growing  rapidly  in  both  the  upper  and  middle  classes, 
but  our  correspondent's  experience  brought  him  more  closely  in 
touch  with  skilled  artisans,  clerks,  small  shopkeepers,  with  from 
£2  a  week  income  upwards.  Those  with  more  than  £250  a  year 
tend  to  a  proportionally  larger  use  of  mechanical  preventives. 
Voluntary  self-restraint,  or  cohabitation  at  certain  times  only 
has  hardly  anything  to  do  with  the  decline  in  the  birth  rate  in  this 
class.  The  current  tone  in  the  matter  may  be  illustrated  by  two 
stories,  the  one  told  by  a  married  woman  with  wide  experience, 
namely,  that  if  you  hear  a  knot  of  young  married  women  of  this 
class  talking  together,  the  chances  are  that  the  topic  will  be  the 
means  of  prevention,  and  the  second  the  words  of  a  male  acquaint- 
ance to  our  correspondent  himself  '  on  the  arrival  of  one  of  my 
youngsters':  'Well,  you  are  a  fool, — and  you  in  a  chemist's 
shop!'" 

That  family  limitation  was  not  more  prevalent  earlier  may  be 
in  part  ascribed  to  the  fact  that  such  a  possibility  never  occurred 
to  the  majority  of  parents.  The  perpetuation  of  the  race  simply 
went  on  in  a  natural  way  as  it  does  among  the  lower  animals,  and 
however  undesirable  may  have  been  the  results  of  unrestricted 
multiplication,  relatively  little  effort  was  made  to  check  the 
number  of  births.  The  surplus  humanity  was  taken  care  of  by  a 
high  death  rate,  assisted  occasionally  by  war,  pestilence,  famine, 
and  here  and  there  by  infanticide. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE    173 

Birth  restriction  probably  would  have  been  much  more  com- 
mon in  past  times  had  our  ancestors  the  knowledge  on  the  subject 
that  is  in  the  possession  of  most  well-informed  persons  at  the  pres- 
ent time.  But  aside  from  this  circumstance,  there  is,  for  several 
reasons,  a  greater  temptation  to  Hmit  the  family  than  there  was  in 
times  past.  Our  changing  modes  of  Hfe  make  children  less  desir- 
able. In  most  places  they  are  no  longer  an  economic  asset.  In 
fact  they  are  becoming  an  increasing  financial  burden.  Stand- 
ards of  living  are  being  raised.  There  is  an  increased  demand  on 
the  part  of  women  for  more  leisure  and  a  respite  from  the  burdens 
which  a  large  family  imposes.  The  desire  for  luxury  and  social 
pleasures  leads  many  a  married  women  to  choose  a  childless  life, 
or  to  be  content  with  but  one  or  two  children.  And  there  is  the 
desire  to  climb  higher  on  the  social  ladder  (the  capillarite  sociale 
of  Dumont)  which  is  not  so  easily  accomplished  with  children 
hanging  about  the  skirts. 

A  common  reason  given  for  not  having  more  children  is  the 
inadequacy  of  the  family  income.  Those  responding  to  the 
questionnaire  sent  out  by  Mr.  Webb  stated  that  the  causes  that 
led  to  family  limitation  were  mainly  economic.  A  similar  ques- 
tionnaire distributed  by  Major  Greenwood  elicited  the  reasons  for 
family  restriction  as  follows:  economic,  130;  health,  90;  doubtful, 
69.  Undoubtedly  there  are  many  married  couples  who  would 
have  more  children  if  they  had  more  means  to  support  them. 
But,  as  a  rule,  wealth  is  no  sooner  acquired  than  standards  of 
living  are  raised  and  a  desire  for  luxuries  increased.  The  acquisi- 
tion of  wealth,  far  from  creating  an  increased  sense  of  racial  obli- 
gation, engenders  in  most  people  the  conviction  that  they  are 
legitimately  entitled  to  shift  to  other  shoulders  all  functions  that 
require  a  sacrifice  of  egoistic  pleasures. 

There  is  doubtless  a  primary  tendency  among  human  beings,  as 
there  is  among  the  lower  animals,  to  respond  to  increased  means 
of  support  by  an  enhanced  birth  rate.  In  periods  of  prosperity 
there  are  more  marriages  and  hence  a  greater  tendency  to  produce 
children.  But  the  contention  of  Cauderlier  that  prosperity  in 
general  increases  the  birth  rate  is  contradicted  by  a  number  of 


174 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


well-known  facts.  A  sudden  accession  of  wealth  may  have  one 
eflfect,  but  its  longer  possession,  with  all  the  customs  and  tradi- 
tions associated  with  its  enjoyment,  may  have  a  quite  different 
result.  If  wealth  affords  the  means  of  supporting  more  children 
it  calls  into  operation  a  number  of  secondary  factors  which  tempt 
its  possessors  to  enjoy  life  unencumbered  by  a  numerous  progeny. 
It  is  among  the  well-to-do  who  are  best  able  to  support  and  edu- 
cate their  children  that  the  gospel  of  birth  control  has  secured  its 
largest  following.  Many  comfort  themselves  with  reflections 
about  "fewer  and  better  children,"  and  that  "Quality  is  better 
than  quantity,"  without  considering  that  without  a  certain 
minimum  number  of  children  there  would  soon  be  neither  quan- 
tity nor  quality.  It  is  doubtful  if  one  person  in  ten  who  employs 
these  glib  justifications  of  family  restriction  has  ever  seriously 
reflected  on  the  racial  consequences  which  this  restriction  may 
entail.  The  possession  of  means  of  interfering  with  the  normal 
course  of  perpetuating  life  confers  a  grave  responsibility  for  its 
wise  employment.  And  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  power  should 
be  generally  abused.  Limiting  the  family  is  a  perfectly  justifiable 
procedure  for  a  large  part  of  humanity,  but  it  is  unfortunate  that 
it  is  practiced  most  among  those  whose  excuse  for  so  doing  is 
least. 

Many  people  who  practice  family  limitation  are  actuated  by 
the  desire  to  provide  better  for  a  few  children  instead  of  bringing 
into  the  world  a  large  family  which  cannot  be  adequately  sup- 
ported. It  would,  however,  be  a  serious  racial  misfortune  if  the 
great  mass  of  reasonably  thrifty  and  intelligent  people  should,  for 
such  a  reason,  reduce  the  size  of  their  families  below  what  is 
necessary  to  perpetuate  their  stock.  To  put  family  interest  above 
racial  welfare  is  as  bad  in  its  effect  as  to  sacrifice  the  race  to  the 
selfish  enjoyment  of  the  individual.  With  most  people  considera- 
tions of  the  interests  of  the  race  are  not  kept  habitually  in  mind,  if 
they  are  ever  present  at  all.  What  is  one  child  more  or  less  in  a 
populous  country  as  compared  with  the  sacrifices  needed  to  feed 
an  extra  mouth?  This  is  the  concrete  question  which  occurs 
almost  inevitably  to  every  married  couple  in  moderate  circum- 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE    175 

stances  who  give  thought  to  the  larger  aspects  of  perpetuating 
their  kind.  With  people  of  good  inheritance  it  is  a  question  of 
family  prosperity  versus  the  general  weal.  And  it  is  so  easy  to 
find  a  reasonable  justification  for  pursuing  the  former  to  the  neg- 
lect of  the  latter.  There  are  people  in  plenty  willing  to  die  for 
their  country,  but  when  it  comes  to  raising  children  for  it, — that 
is  a  different  matter. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  the  so-called  Neo-Malthusian  doctrines 
which  are  becoming  so  widely  diffused  nowadays  are  having  more 
effect  in  extinguishing  good  inheritance  than  in  checking  the  large 
families  which  are  so  frequently  associated  with  a  squahd  exist- 
ence and  a  high  death  rate.  As  its  name  implies  the  Neo-Mal- 
thusian movement  is  an  outgrowth  of  the  general  doctrine  enun- 
ciated by  Malthus  in  his  celebrated  Essay  on  Population.  In  the 
words  of  one  of  its  chief  exponents,  Dr.  C.  V.  Drysdale,  "Neo- 
Malthusianism  is  an  ethical  doctrine  based  on  the  principle  of 
Malthus  that  poverty,  disease  and  premature  death  can  only  be 
eliminated  by  control  of  reproduction,  and  on  a  recognition  of  the 
evils  inseparable  from  prolonged  abstention  from  marriage.  It 
therefore  advocates  early  marriage,  combined  with  a  selective 
limitation  of  offspring  to  those  children  to  whom  the  parents  can 
give  a  satisfactory  heredity  and  environment  so  that  they  may 
become  desirable  members  of  the  community.  It  further  main- 
tains that  a  universal  knowledge  of  contraceptive  devices  among 
adult  men  and  women  would  in  all  probability  automatically 
lead  to  such  a  selection  through  an  enlightened  self-interest,  and 
thus  to  the  elimination  of  destitution  and  all  the  more  serious 
social  evils,  and  to  the  elevation  of  the  race." 

This  is  quoted  from  the  second  edition  of  the  author's  book, 
The  Small  Family  System ,  which  contains  perhaps  the  best  general 
statement  of  the  Neo-Malthusian  doctrine,  with  an  able  plea  in 
its  behalf.  Like  many  other  Neo-Malthusians,  Dr.  Dr^^sdale  sees 
in  family  limitation  what  is  perhaps  as  near  to  being  a  panacea 
for  all  social  ills  as  any  one  measure  that  could  possibly  be  applied. 
To  the  adoption  of  Neo-Malthusian  practices  is  attributed  a 
large  part  of  the  decrease  in  mortality  which  during  the  last  half 


176  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

century  has  accompanied  the  fall  of  the  birth  rate.  A  high  birth 
rate  commonly  goes  along  with  a  high  infant  mortality;  hence,  it 
is  argued,  the  latter  would  diminish  if  the  birth  rate  were  reduced. 
By  doing  away  with  over-population  Neo-Malthusianism  would 
tend  to  exterminate  disease  and  poverty,  and  by  permitting  early 
marriages  to  take  place  without  incurring  the  responsibility  of 
parenthood  it  would  materially  decrease  prostitution  and  vene- 
real disease.  In  place  of  a  population  living  in  squalor  and  igno- 
rance, competing  keenly  for  the  bare  means  of  subsistence,  and 
tending  through  rapid  increase  to  encroach  upon  neighboring 
nations,  we  should  have  a  people  with  a  relatively  low  death 
rate,  living  in  comparative  affluence,  freed  largely  from  the  temp- 
tations to  vice  and  crime,  and  enjoying  the  blessings  of  peace  and 
contentment.  All  this  through  the  proper  employment  of  con- 
traceptives! 

This  vision  of  the  beneficent  results  of  checking  over-population 
has  aroused  in  many  all  the  enthusiasm  that  characterizes  the 
devotees  of  a  new  religion.  We  have  societies  for  spreading  the 
gospel  in  various  countries,  as,  for  instance,  the  Malthusian 
League  of  England,  the  ligue  Neo-Malthusienne  of  Paris,  similar 
leagues  in  Holland,  Germany,  Austria,  Italy,  Belgium,  Sweden, 
Spain,  and  several  birth  control  leagues  in  the  larger  cities  of 
the  United  States.  A  number  of  periodicals  are  devoted,  in  whole 
or  in  part,  to  the  same  propaganda,  such  as  the  Birth  Control 
Review,  Birth  Control  News,  Dr.  Robinson's  Critic  and  Guide, 
The  Malthusian  (C.  V.  Drysdale  ed.).  La  Generation  Consciente 
(Paris),  Salud  y  Fuerza  (Spain),  L'Educazione  sessuale  (Italy), 
Die  neue  Generation  (Germany).  Much  of  this  teaching  finds 
its  way  into  socialist  pamphlets  and  periodicals  which  have  no 
small  influence  upon  the  birth  rate  of  the  better  informed  workers. 
Many  of  the  latter  take  an  antagonistic  attitude  to  having  large 
families,  not  merely  because  many  children  make  greater  de- 
mands upon  the  family  income,  but  believing  that,  as  the  popula- 
tion increases,  wages,  and  hence  the  welfare  of  the  working 
classes  in  general,  tends  to  decrease,  and  believing  also,  and  to  a 
certain  extent  rightly,  that  the  gospel  of  fecundity  has  been 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE     177 

preached  in  the  interest  of  capital  in  order  that  there  may  always 
be  a  supply  of  cheap  labor,  they  have  come  to  regard  the  produc- 
tion of  large  families  as  almost  an  act  of  class  disloyalty.  Know- 
ing little  of  heredity,  taught  to  look  upon  the  differences  between 
human  beings  as  chiefly  the  result  of  environment  and  oppor- 
tunity, and  being  impressed  with  the  notion  that  the  ills  of 
humanity  have  their  root  in  purely  social  and  economic  malad- 
justments, they  are  apt  to  set  little  store  by  the  great  variations 
in  hereditary  qualities  which  human  beings  everywhere  present, 
and  to  overlook  the  really  vital  importance  of  conserving  the 
best  inheritance  of  the  race.  It  does  not  seem  to  them,  there- 
fore, a  matter  of  much  importance  whether  they  produce 
their  quota  of  children  or  not.  In  fact,  it  might  seem  to  be 
a  patriotic  duty  to  refrain  from  having  children,  so  that  the 
next  generation  would  be  able  to  secure  a  greater  per  capita 
reward  for  its  labor. 

If  a  large  part  of  the  thinking  elements  of  the  working  classes 
hold  such  views  and  are  thereby  led  to  reduce  their  families  below 
the  necessary  minimum  for  reproducing  their  kind,  we  cannot 
upbraid  them  for  neglecting  an  important  duty,  but  can  only 
endeavor  to  dissuade  them  from  carrying  family  restriction  to 
the  point  of  race  suicide. 

No  Neo-Malthusian  who  has  the  least  knowledge  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  heredity  would  advocate  the  restriction  of  families  of 
desirable  parentage  beyond  the  minimum  necessary  for  race 
perpetuation.  Many  Neo-Malthusians,  however,  place  so  little 
emphasis  on  this  aspect  of  the  matter  that  the  actual  influence  of 
their  teaching  would  be  to  produce  just  this  result.  Dr.  Drys- 
dale's  book,  for  instance,  is  so  devoted  to  condemning  the  evils 
of  large  families  and  extolling  the  benefits  arising  from  the  small 
family  system  that  he  has  practically  no  word  on  the  evils  that 
would  result  from  an  undue  restriction  in  families  of  desirable 
inheritance.  An  indiscriminate  advocacy  of  small  families  with 
no  indication  of  how  small  the  families  should  be,  is  more  apt  to 
cause  good  inheritance  to  disappear  than  it  is  to  check  the  propa- 
gation of  bad  stock.    In  this  matter,  if  anywhere  in  ethics,  the 


178  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

Aristotelian  doctrine  of  the  golden  mean  finds  its  ample  justifi- 
cation. 

We  agree  that  in  numerous  instances  family  limitation  would 
confer  an  inestimable  boon.  As  Dr.  Drysdale  well  says,  "There 
are  millions  of  poor  physically  and  mentally  unfit  creatures  who, 
if  voluntary  restriction  were  known  to  them,  or  they  were  not  told 
it  was  unhealthy  or  immoral,  would  only  be  too  glad  to  escape 
burdening  themselves  and  the  community  with  a  numerous  and 
weakly  progeny.  What  is  the  use  of  deploring  the  increase  of  the 
unfit  when  the  poor  mothers  among  the  working  classes  are  only 
too  anxious  to  avoid  the  misery  of  bearing  child  upon  child  in 
wretched  surroundings  on  miserably  insufficient  wages,  and 
of  seeing  half  their  children  perish  from  semi-starvation  before 
their  eyes?" 

It  is  argued  that  the  greatest  benefits  of  birth  control  would 
result  from  diffusing  the  proper  knowledge  among  the  classes  that 
form  the  rather  broad  belt  between  mental  deficiency  and  com- 
mon mediocrity.  We  cannot  reasonably  expect  that,  in  this  belt, 
a  great  deal  of  respect  would  be  paid  to  the  counsel  of  sexual 
abstinence  as  a  means  of  limiting  the  family.  Since  knowledge  of 
the  means  of  preventing  conception  is  so  prevalent  among  the 
upper  ranks  of  society,  why  become  so  righteously  indignant 
about  extending  the  information  to  the  people  among  whom  it 
would  do  the  most  good? 

While  much  has  been  said  against  Neo-Malthusianism  on 
hygienic,  ethical  and  patriotic  grounds,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  opinion  in  medical  circles  and  elsewhere  is  coming  to  be  more 
favorable  to  the  movement.  It  is  becoming  more  and  more 
evident  that  legislation  against  the  dissemination  of  knowledge 
on  the  prevention  of  conception  is  futile,  if  not  mischievous.  It 
now  has  little  effect  except  that  of  keeping  knowledge  of  the 
subject  away  from  the  more  ignorant  and  improvident,  and  of 
indirectly  leading  to  an  increase  of  abortion  among  all  classes. 
The  attempt  to  make  ignorance  the  bulwark  of  morality  has  al- 
ways broken  down,  and  it  might  be  better  to  make  knowledge  of 
the  least  injurious  contraceptive  methods  the  general  property  of 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINING  BIRTH  RATE     179 

all  married  couples  rather  than  to  keep  it  under  the  ban  of  legal 
prohibition.  There  is  a  considerable  amount  of  sincere  moral 
feeling,  and  a  larger  amount  of  purely  hj^ocritical  protest  against 
such  a  procedure.^  The  question  cannot  be  decided  by  ecclesias- 
tical authority,  or  by  any  sort  of  a  priori  deduction,  but  only  on 
the  ground  of  what  is  most  conducive  to  the  welfare  of  the  race. 
What  we  need  is  a  judicious  combination  of  the  preachments  of 
Dr.  Drysdale  and  Mr.  Roosevelt, — family  limitation  where  such 
is  needed,  and  greater  fecundity  among  those  whose  inheritance 
is  of  superior  quality. 

1  Mr.  H.  Gachte  has  somewhat  ironically  pointed  out  that  among  the  members  of 
the  National  Committee  on  the  Increase  of  the  Population  in  France,  there  were 
only  578  children  to  445  members,  or  an  average  of  one  and  a  third  children  per 
family ! 

On  the  pros  and  cons  of  birth  control  the  reader  may  be  referred,  in  addition 
to  the  books  and  periodicals  mentioned  above,  to  Beale's  Racial  Decay,  a  rather 
rambling,  disorganized  work,  strongly  condemnatory  of  birth  control.  This  work 
formed  the  occasion  of  Mr.  Roosevelt's  famous  article  on  Race  Suicide  {Outlook, 
Vol.  97,  p.  763)  which  should  be  read  by  everyone  interested  in  the  subject.  Of 
purely  historical  interest  is  Knowlton's,  Fruits  of  Philosophy  (a  rather  sorry  pro- 
duction by  the  way)  whose  repubHcation  in  England  in  1878  brought  about  the 
celebrated  trial  of  Chas.  Bradlaugh  and  Mrs.  Annie  Besant.  Mention  may  also  be 
made  of  Mrs.  Besant's  pamphlet.  The  Law  of  Population,  which  ran  through  many 
editions  amounting  in  all  to  several  hundred  thousand  copies.  A  strong  attack  on 
birth  restriction  is  contained  in  the  Rev.  R.  Ussher's,  Neo-Malthusianism  (Methuen 
and  Co.,  London,  1897).  On  the  Neo-Malthusian  side  attention  may  be  called  to 
Uncontrolled  Breeding,  by  A.  More;  Small  or  Large  Families,  by  C.  V.  Drysdale, 
H.  Ellis,  W.  J.  Robinson  and  A.  Grotjahn;  W.  J.  Robinson's  books,  Eugenics, 
Marriage  and  Birth  Control,  Fewer  and  Better  Babies,  The  Limitation  of  Offspring; 
A.  Grotjahn's,  Gehurtenrikkgang  und  Gebnrtenregehmg  (Marcus,  Berlin,  1914).  H. 
Ellis  has  discussed  the  subject  in  his  Task  of  Social  Hygiene,  Essays  in  War  Time, 
and  in  the  Eugenics  Review  for  191 7.  An  interesting  series  of  articles  by  M.  A. 
Hopkins  runs  through  Harper's  Weekly  for  1915.  A  useful  bibliography  of  several 
hundred  references  has  been  compiled  by  Th.  Schroeder  (H.  W.  Wilson  Co.,  N.  Y., 
1918,  35  cents). 


i8o         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


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Remedes,  F.  Nathan.    Paris,  1907. 
Dudfield,  R.    Some  Unconsidered  Factors  Affecting  the  Birth-Rate.    Jour.  Roy. 

Stat.  Soc.  71,  1-55,  1908. 
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Geissler,  A.    Ueber  den  Einfluss  der  SauglingssterbUchkeit  auf  die  eheliche  Frucht- 

barkeit.    Zeit.  Sachs.  Stat.  Bur.  31,  1885,  p.  23. 
Goldstein,  J.    Die  vermeintlichen  und  die  wirklichen  Ursachen  des  Bevolkerungs- 

stillstands  in  Frankreich.    Munich,  1898.    See  also  Zukunft,  7,  55;  Bevolke- 

rungsprobleme  und  Berufsgliederung  in  Frankreich.    Berlin,  1900. 
Grotjahn,  A.    Geburten-Riickgang  und  Geburten-Regelung.    Berlin,  1914. 
Iseman,  M.  S.    Race  Suicide.    CosmopoUtan  Press,  N.  Y.,  191 2. 
Keller,  A.  G.    Birth  Control.    Yale  Rev.  7,  129-139,  191 7. 
March,  L.     Commission  de  la  Depopulation.     Sous-Commission  de  la  Natality. 

Rapport  sur  les  Causes  Professionelles  de  Depopulation.    Paris,  1905. 
Ogle,  W.    On  Marriage-Rates  and  Marriage  Ages,  with  Special  Reference  to  the 

Growth  of  Population.    Jour.  Roy.  Stat.  Soc.  53,  253-280,  1890. 
Piff,  T.     Ueber  die  Ursachen  des  Geburtenriickganges  in  Deutschland.     Berlin 

klin,  Wochenschr.  1913,  i,  261-264. 
Ploetz,  A.    Neomalthusianismus  und  Rassenhygiene.    Arch.  Rass.  Ces.  Biol.  10, 

166-172,  1913. 
Rutgers,   J.     Rassenverbesserung,   Malthusianismus   und   Neomalthusianismus. 

Dresden  and  Leipzig,  1908,  p.  303. 
Taylor,  J.  W.    The  Diminishing  Birth  Rate.    London,  1904. 
Webb,  S.    The  Decline  in  the  Birth  Rate.    Fabian  Tract,  No.  131.    London,  1907. 

Physical  Degeneracy  or  Race  Suicide?    Pop.  Sci.  Mon.  69,  512-529,  1906. 
Wolf,  J.    Die  letzten  Ursachen  des  Geburtenriickgangs  imserer  Tage.    Arch.  Soz. 

Wiss.  37,  919-929,  1913.    Der  Geburtenriickgang  imd  die  Rationalisierung  des 

SexuaUebens  in  unserer  Zeit.  G.  Fischer,  Jena,i9i2. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

NATURAL  SELECTION  IN  MAN 

"The  conception  of  the  destruction  of  the  less  fit  as  a  beneficent 
factor  of  human  growth  must  become  part  of  our  mental  atmosphere, 
we  must  look  upon  it  as  a  chief  cause  of  the  mental  and  physical 
growth  of  mankind  in  the  past,  not  as  a  blind  and  hostile  natural  force 
carelessly  crushing  the  single  life,  but  as  the  source  of  all  that  we 
value  in  the  intellect  and  physique  of  the  highest  type  of  mankind 
to-day." — Karl  Pearson,  The  Groundwork  oj  Eugenics.  Eugenics 
Laboratory  Lecture  Series,  11. 

According  to  the  Darwinian  theory  the  evolution  of  life  is 
mainly  the  result  of  the  operation  of  natural  selection  or  the 
preservation  of  favored  races  in  the  struggle  for  life.  Opinions 
differ  greatly  concerning  the  extent  to  which  natural  selection 
acts  in  the  human  species.  Mr.  Darwin  considered  the  factors  of 
human  evolution  at  some  length  in  his  Descent  of  Man  and  while 
he  has  recognized  the  potency  of  sexual  selection  and  the  trans- 
mission of  the  effects  of  use  and  disuse  of  parts,  he  lays  great 
stress  upon  natural  selection,  both  in  the  preservation  of  the  most 
favored  individuals  and  in  the  selection  of  the  most  efficient 
social  groups  in  intertribal  and  inter-racial  conflict.  "The  early 
progenitors  of  man,"  he  says,  "must  have  tended,  like  all  other 
animals,  to  have  increased  beyond  their  means  of  sustenance; 
they  must,  therefore,  actually  have  been  exposed  to  a  struggle  for 
existence,  and  consequently  to  the  rigid  law  of  natural  selection. 
Beneficial  variations  of  all  kinds  will  thus,  either  occasionally  or 
habitually,  have  been  preserved  and  injurious  ones  eliminated." 
Mr.  Darwin  emphasizes  the  importance  of  variations  in  the  direc- 
tion of  greater  intelligence  and  the  development  of  those  social 
instincts  which  lead  mankind  to  cooperate  for  mutual  defense. 
These  traits  which  are  so  characteristic  of  man  would  therefore 
tend  to  be  developed  by  natural  selection  during  the  entire  course 
of  human  development, 

l8i 


i82  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

We  often  find  it  stated  that  in  mankind  natural  selection  has 
been  practically  done  away  with  by  our  advances  in  civilization. 
We  no  longer  ^  live  in  fear  of  wild  beasts;  human  beings  seldom 
die  of  starvation  or  succumb  to  the  direct  effects  of  climate.  We 
endeavor  to  keep  alive  the  weakHngs  who  would  perish  under  a 
more  primitive  regime.  Everything  is  done  which  is  rendered 
possible  by  our  knowledge  and  skill  to  prevent  natural  selection 
from  eliminating  the  ill-favored  members  of  our  race. 

Nevertheless  the  operation  of  natural  selection  is  far  from 
completely  checked.  However  far  science  may  advance,  it  will 
always  lie  beyond  our  power  to  do  away  entirely  with  its  action. 
Dr.  G.  A.  Reid  in  his  Present  Evolution  of  Man  maintains  that 
man's  advance  "is  not  mainly  an  evolution  of  physical  or  intel- 
lectual strength,  as  in  his  remote  ancestry,  but  mainly  an  evolu- 
tion against  disease."  While  there  are  several  evolutionary 
factors  which  Dr.  Reid  has  not  considered  in  his  book,  he  is  doubt- 
less correct  in  his  contention  that  the  course  of  our  development  in 
the  past  has  been  greatly  influenced  by  the  selective  action  of 
various  diseases,  and  that  it  will  probably  continue  to  be  so  in  the 
future.  Races  tend,  through  the  action  of  natural  selection,  to 
become  immunized  to  prevalent  diseases.  Most  diseases  act 
much  more  severely  upon  some  individuals  than  others.  Many 
people  are  practically  immune  to  certain  diseases,  and  some  races 
are  more  or  less  immune  to  diseases  which  in  other  races  have  a 
high  fatality.  The  relative  immunity  of  the  negro  race  to  malaria 
is  well  known.  According  to  Hirsch  {Geographical  and  Historical 
Pathology,  I,  p.  245)  there  died  of  malarial  fevers  per  thousand  of 
the  population  in  Ceylon 

Negroes i .  i 

Natives  of  India 4.5 

Malays 6.7 

Natives  of  Ceylon 7 

Europeans 24 . 6 

^  Indirectly,  of  course,  lack  of  adequate  nutrition  is  a  frequent  source  of  death 
as  it  predisposes  people  to  die  from  various  diseases.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
the  indirect  effects  of  climate. 


NATURAL  SELECTION  IN  MAN  183 

In  the  most  malarious  districts  of  the  West  coast  of  Africa  mem- 
bers of  the  white  race  would  probably  be  eliminated  in  a  few 
generations.  Haycraft  states  that  "the  black  population  of 
Sierre  Leone  have  only  a  mortality  of  .24  per  cent,  from  malaria, 
while  the  mortality  of  the  white  settlers  is  47  per  cent."  Measles, 
which  is  a  common  but  not  severe  malady  with  us,  is  said  to  have 
swept  away  40,000  of  the  150,000  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Fiji 
Islands  in  1876.  Tuberculosis  is  apparently  more  fatal  among 
the  negroes,  American  Indians  and  the  races  of  the  South  Pacific 
than  it  is  among  ourselves.  The  Chinese  enjoy  a  peculiar  im- 
munity to  typhoid  fever,  and  cancer  is  probably  more  prevalent 
in  Caucasians  than  among  more  primitive  races. 

These  are  a  few  of  the  facts  which  indicate  that  the  same  selec- 
tive agency  may  act  very  differently  upon  different  racial  stocks. 
The  complex  of  conditions  presented  by  life  in  India  bear  more 
hardly  upon  Europeans  than  upon  the  Hindus.  In  the  United 
States  the  conditions,  which  include  economic  and  social  as  well 
as  climatic  factors,  are  much  more  fatal  to  the  negroes  than  to  the 
whites.  According  to  the  last  census  reports  the  anticipation  of 
life  for  white  males  is  50.23  years  and  for  white  females  53.62 
years;  but  for  negro  males  it  is  only  35.05  years  and  for  negro 
females  37.67  years. 

The  effect  of  selective  agencies  upon  different  races  doubtless 
has  much  to  do  in  determining  the  present  geographical  distribu- 
tion of  the  races  of  mankind.  The  negro  population  would  never 
invade  the  arctic  circle  even  if  there  were  no  other  human  com- 
petitors; and  were  it  not  for  their  relative  immunity  to  malaria 
they  would  probably  long  ago  have  been  eliminated  from  Africa 
by  invaders  from  other  lands.  As  Dr.  J.  A.  Lindsay  has  pointed 
out,  the  selective  influence  of  disease  cannot  be  treated  in  general 
terms.  Some  diseases,  like  the  plague,  cholera  and  typhus  pro- 
duce much  greater  ravages  among  the  slum  elements  of  the  popu- 
lation than  among  the  well-to-do,  whereas  influenza  is  much  more 
apt  to  attack  all  classes  alike.  The  latter  disease  causes  a  much 
higher  death  rate  among  the  older  people  and  especially  those 
with  pulmonary  affections.     The  common  children's  diseases, 


i84  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

whooping  cough,  measles,  scarlet  fever  and  diphtheria  are  very 
prevalent  among  all  classes.  The  mortality  of  the  first  three  is 
much  greater  among  the  children  of  the  poor,  whereas  diphtheria 
when  allowed  to  run  its  natural  course  has  a  high  mortality  among 
rich  and  poor  alike.  With  measles  and  whooping  cough  mortality 
is  largely  dependent  upon  general  health,  whereas  with  diphtheria 
this  is  not  nearly  so  obvious. 

Some  epidemic  diseases  are  doubtless  selective  in  their  nature, 
eliminating  to  a  greater  degree  those  with  weakened  constitutions, 
whereas  others  apparently  possess  Httle  selective  value  so  far  as 
can  be  observed.  Some  diseases,  therefore,  may  be  racial  bles- 
sings in  disguise,  whereas  others  may  have  simply  a  depressing 
influence  on  the  race  as  a  whole.  There  is  evidence  to  show  that 
in  the  white  race  there  are  different  degrees  of  susceptibility  to 
several  diseases  correlated  with  differences  in  the  degree  of  pig- 
mentation. Baxter,  in  his  study  of  large  numbers  of  soldiers  of 
the  Civil  War,  concluded  that  those  with  a  light  complexion  were 
more  liable  to  disease  and  suffered  more  from  their  injuries  than 
those  with  a  dark  complexion.  The  proportions  of  recruits  re- 
jected for  military  service  were,  among  the  blonds,  385.2  per 
thousand,  and  among  the  dark  complexioned,  325  per  thousand. 
Eye  troubles  in  the  two  classes  were  in  the  proportion  of  blonds 
22  and  dark  18.  In  Scotland,  according  to  Tocher,  the  incidence 
of  insanity  is  greater  among  the  people  of  light  colored  eyes, 
McDonald  has  studied  the  relation  between  pigmentation  and 
disease  in  a  large  number  of  children  in  the  hospitals  at  Glasgow. 
He  finds  that  in  regard  to  diphtheria,  whooping  cough,  scarlet 
fever  and  measles,  "  the  dark-haired,  dark-eyed  child  has  consid- 
erably more  recuperative  power  than  the  fair-haired,  light-eyed 
child.  The  medium-haired  medium-eyed  child  occupies  an  inter- 
mediate position  as  regards  recuperative  power."  "The  closer 
the  t3TDe  approximates  the  fair,  the  less  recuperative  power  it  has, 
and  the  less  resistance  it  offers  to  the  diseases." 

These  results  are  quite  parallel  to  what  has  often  been  observed 
among  animals.  Darwin  states  on  the  authority  of  Professor 
Wyman  that  dark  pigmented  swine  in  Virginia  eat  with  impunity 


NATURAL  SELECTION  IN  MAN  185 

the  paintroot  (Lachnanthes)  that  is  poisonous  to  white  swine. 
Black  sheep,  according  to  Heusinger,  possess  a  similar  immunity 
to  certain  plants  injurious  to  white  sheep.  And  there  are  cases  in 
which  infectious  diseases  are  more  fatal  to  light  than  to  dark 
colored  breeds  of  animals. 

It  is  generally  held  that  tuberculosis  is  more  apt  to  attack 
individuals  with  defective  vitality.  The  tendency  of  tuberculosis 
to  run  in  families  has  long  been  recognized,  but  since  it  was 
demonstrated  that  this  disease  is  caused  by  bacterial  infection,  it 
has  not  been  regarded  as  truly  hereditary.  Direct  transfer  from 
mother  to  embryo  is  exceedingly  rare.  It  is  probable,  however, 
that  there  are  hereditary  differences  in  the  liability  of  individuals 
to  become  infected.  Pearson  and  his  co-workers  have  collected 
evidence  to  show  that  the  correlation  between  parents  and 
children  for  tuberculosis  (which  lies  between  .4  and  .6)  is  higher 
than  the  correlation  between  the  occurrence  of  tuberculosis  and 
unfavorable  environment  such  as  poor  housing  and  bad  ventila- 
tion. A  parent-offspring  or  a  fraternal  correlation  is  not  neces- 
sarily the  result  of  heredity.  It  might  also  be  brought  about  by 
the  transmission  of  an  infection  quite  apart  from  heredity.  It  is 
argued,  however,  that  since  the  correlation  for  tuberculosis  in 
husband  and  wife  where  the  chances  for  infection  are  presumably 
equally  great  lies  between  o  and  .3,  and  as  a  part  of  this  correla- 
tion is  probably  due  to  assortative  mating,  or  the  tendency  of  like 
or  similarly  situated  individuals  to  intermarry,  the  parent-off- 
spring correlation  must  be  mainly  the  result  of  an  hereditary 
proclivity  to  infection. 

It  may  be  questioned,  however,  if  tuberculosis  is  as  apt  to  be 
conveyed  in  the  marital  relation  as  it  is  from  parent  to  offspring. 
If,  as  many  authors  now  contend,  tuberculosis  is  usually  acquired 
in  childhood,  often  lying  latent  until  some  condition  causes  it  to 
flare  up  in  adult  Hfe,  the  high  value  of  the  parent-offspring  corre- 
lation may  be  the  result  of  early  infection  rather  than  a  hereditary 
diathesis. 

On  the  other  hand,  autopsies  show  that  the  great  majority 
of  human  beings  are  infected  by  tuberculosis  some  time  during 


i86  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

their  lives  and  generally  before  adult  age.  Hamburger  states 
that  in  Vienna  95  per  cent  of  the  children  of  the  poor  between 
12  and  13  years  of  age  are  infected,  and  he  thinks  that  practically 
all  will  be  infected  before  they  reach  adult  life.  If  it  should  be 
established  that  most  people  become  tuberculous  at  an  early  age, 
the  hypothesis  that  the  parent-offspring  correlation  for  tubercu- 
losis is  due  simply  to  opportunities  for  infection  will  hardly  suffice 
to  explain  the  fact.  The  generality  of  early  infection  is  a  matter 
to  be  considered  in  interpreting  the  significance  of  the  correlation. 
If  almost  every  one  has  become  infected,  and  thus  has  the  oppor- 
tunity to  develop  tuberculosis,  and  if  the  existence  of  the  more 
severe  forms  of  the  disease  is  more  closely  associated  with  blood 
relationship  than  it  is  with  the  surrounding  conditions  under 
which  tuberculosis  is  apt  to  become  manifest,  the  evidence  would 
strongly  point  to  the  importance  of  the  hereditary  factor.  The 
problem  is  a  difficult  one  about  which  there  has  been  considerable 
controversy,  and  we  shall  have  to  await  further  insight  into  the 
subject  before  the  precise  role  of  heredity  can  be  fully  established. 
Should  the  hereditary  factor  be  a  potent  one  it  would  indicate 
that  natural  selection  is  acting  to  remove  the  stocks  with  a  tuber- 
cular diathesis. 

That  natural  selection  tends  to  eliminate  stocks  with  a  pro- 
clivity to  other  diseases  is  evident.  Several  diseases  such  as 
diabetes,  Bright's  disease,  Huntington's  chorea  and  others  which 
are  known  to  be  transmitted  are  not  infrequent  causes  of  death. 
Dwarfism,  ichthyosis,  xeroderma,  albinism,  hereditary  cataract, 
and  deaf  mutism,  while  not  in  themselves  fatal,  may  lesson  the 
chances  for  leaving  offspring  and  hence  lead  to  the  extinction  of 
stocks  in  which  they  occur.  Haemophilia  which  is  transmitted  as 
a  sex  linked  character  would  tend  inevitably  to  be  efiminated 
by  natural  selection  since  it  greatly  increases  the  danger  from 
any  wound  that  causes  the  loss  of  blood.  Lossen  states  that  18 
out  of  the  37  deaths  in  the  celebrated  Mampel  family  were  due 
to  this  malady.  The  hereditary  forms  of  insanity  not  only  keep 
their  victims  from  propagating  their  kind,  but  they  often  tend 
to  shorten  their  lives.    Brower  and  Bannister  state  that  in  the 


NATURAL  SELECTION  IN  MAN  187 

best  regulated  asylums  the  death  rate  "is  hardly  less  than  7  per 
cent,  even  under  favorable  conditions,"  which  is  about  four  times 
as  great  as  should  exist  in  well-regulated  municipalities  of  the 
ordinary  population.  If,  however,  we  take  out  certain  forms  of 
insanity,  such  as  paresis  and  organic  dementia,  we  have  the  ratio 
somewhat  reduced.  In  any  case,  however,  it  will  decidedly  exceed 
that  amongst  the  general  population.  The  death  rate  in  asylums 
is  less  than  that  of  the  insane  outside  of  these  institutions.  Barr 
{Mental  Defectives,  p.  131)  states  that  out  of  625  cases  of  mental 
defectives  of  whose  deaths  he  had  records,  "  the  largest  number  of 
deaths  occurred  between  10  and  20  years;  but  comparatively 
few  passed  the  25th  year  and  exceptional  cases  appeared  from  30 
to  40  years."  According  to  Clark  and  S  to  well  in  the  New  York 
City  Children's  Hospitals  and  Schools  the  mortality  among  the 
feeble-minded  is  double  that  of  other  children,  and  the  mortality 
of  the  lowest  grades,  idiots  and  imbeciles,  is  four  times  as  great  as 
among  the  feeble-minded.  With  the  higher  grades  of  the  feeble- 
minded the  expectation  of  life  is  much  greater,  but  among  these 
natural  selection  takes  a  relatively  heavy  toll  as  is  evinced  by 
their  high  infant  mortality. 

It  is  a  fair  inference  that  natural  selection  causes  a  higher 
mortality  among  those  who,  while  not  feeble-minded,  are  below 
the  general  average  of  intelligence.  Not  only  is  their  station  in 
life  apt  to  be  such  as  to  raise  their  death  rate,  but  through  igno- 
rance or  lack  of  the  ability  to  afford  the  proper  surroundings  for 
their  children  they  have  a  high  infant  mortality  which  tends  to 
offset,  in  a  measure,  their  greater  fecundity. 

Contrasted  with  the  rather  high  general  death  rate  of  inferior 
stocks  is  the  relatively  low  death  rate  of  the  classes  with  excep- 
tional intelligence.  Sir  Francis .  Galton  has  noted  that  English 
men  of  science  as  a  class  are  long  lived,  and  Cattell  finds  that  the 
death  rate  and  especially  the  infant  mortality  in  the  families  of 
American  men  of  science  is  unusually  low.  The  death  rate  is 
relatively  low  in  professional  classes  in  general  and  among  others 
who  have  achieved  a  noteworthy  success  in  other  fields.  If  it  is 
said  that  their  reduced  death  rate  is  due  to  better  environment 


i88  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

we  must  bear  in  mind  that  their  better  environment  is  to  a  large 
extent  the  result  of  their  belonging  to  hereditary  stocks  at  least 
a  little  above  the  general  average  of  humanity.  If  the  birth  rates 
of  the  classes  that  achieve  success  by  virtue  of  their  inherent 
superiority  were  as  high  or  nearly  as  high  as  it  is  among  their 
less  favored  brethren  the  general  level  of  ability  would  doubtless 
be  raised  through  natural  selection.  Unfortunately  under  our 
present  social  conditions  natural  selection  and  reproductive 
selection  frequently  work  in  opposite  directions,  and  the  evidence 
points  to  the  conclusion  that  the  influence  of  the  latter  is  gener- 
ally the  more  potent. 

For  a  number  of  years  Professor  Karl  Pearson  and  several  of 
his  associates  have  been  endeavoring  to  demonstrate  by  statistical 
methods  that  natural  selection  is  actually  at  work  among  human 
beings  and  to  obtain  a  measure  of  the  intensity  of  its  action. 
From  data  on  the  general  health  of  professional  classes  which  were 
exposed  to  much  the  same  environmental  influences,  Pearson 
found  a  parent-offspring  correlation  of  .3824  which  is  indicative 
of  a  fair  amount  of  hereditary  resemblance.  Longevity  was  found 
byBeeton  and  Pearson  to  run  in  families  as  has  long  been  believed 
and  as  in  fact  common  observation  seems  to  show.  In  selected 
groups  such  as  the  British  Landed  Gentry  and  the  Peerage  where 
environmental  differences  play  a  relatively  small  r61e,  a  marked 
correlation  was  found  between  the  length  of  life  of  father  and  son 
and  also  between  the  length  of  life  of  brothers.  Great  length 
of  life  was  also  found  to  be  correlated  with  increased  fertility. 
It  is,  of  course,  obvious  that  up  to  the  end  of  the  reproductive 
period,  the  longer  people  live  the  more  children  they  may  be 
expected  to  have.  But  the  fact  that  the  longer  women  live  after 
their  reproductive  period  the  more  children  they  are  likely  to  have 
in  this  period  indicates  that  increased  fertility  and  longevity  are 
both  the  result  of  a  high  degree  of  vitality.  "  Of  two  women  who 
both  lived  beyond  50  years,  the  longer  lived  is  likely  to  have  had 
before  50  the  larger  family."    (Beeton,  Yule  and  Pearson.) 

Similar  results  were  obtained  by  Powys  from  data  obtained 
in  New  South  Wales.    Fecundity  was  found  to  increase  in  women 


NATURAL  SELECTION  IN  MAN  189 

as  their  age  at  death  increased  from  45  to  65-70  years  and  then  to 
decrease  somewhat.  "  Childless  women  and  mothers  of  extremely- 
small  families  have  shorter  expectation  of  life  than  mothers  of 
moderate  sized  families."  With  families  of  more  than  six  children 
the  mother's  expectation  of  life  diminishes.  In  a  memoir  by 
Beeton  and  Pearson  it  is  remarked:  "I  [K.  P.?]  think,  therefore, 
that  we  can  no  longer  talk  of  natural  selection  as  an  hypothesis. 
It  is  in  the  case  of  man  demonstrably  at  work  either  changing  in  a 
quantitatively  definite  manner  his  constitution  as  a  whole  or  else 
necessary  to  keep  that  constitution  stable.  It  is  now  not  correct 
to  say  as  Lord  Salisbury  said  in  1894  of  natural  selection '  No  man, 
so  far  as  we  know,  has  ever  seen  it  at  work.'  It  is  sensibly  and 
visibly  at  work;  a  factor  in  50  to  80  per  cent  of  the  deaths  in  the 
case  of  man  is  not  a  slight  perturbation  ...  it  is  something  we 
run  up  against  at  once,  almost  as  soon  as  we  examine  a  mortality 
table." 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  demonstrate  the  workings  of 
natural  selection  by  studying  the  changes  occurring  in  the  human 
population  of  limited  districts.  Among  the  most  extensive  inves- 
tigations in  this  field  are  those  of  O.  Ammon  upon  the  inhabitants 
of  Baden.  The  people  of  this  duchy  were  held  to  consist  mainly 
of  two  racial  elements,  a  relatively  tall,  blond,  blue-eyed,  dolicho- 
cephalic "Germanic"  race,  and  a  small,  dark-haired,  dark-eyed, 
round-headed  "mongoloid"  race.  The  long-headed  types  were 
found  to  prevail  more  in  cities  and  towns  than  in  the  country,  and 
the  older  urban  inhabitants  were  found  to  be  more  dolichoceph- 
ahc  than  the  recent  ones.  The  long  heads  being  the  more  intelli- 
gent, superior  stock  tended  to  supplant  the  round  heads  in  the 
cities  where  the  struggle  for  position  depends  more  than  in  the 
rural  districts  upon  the  possession  of  superior  mental  and  moral 
qualities.  It  is  the  dolichocephalic,  according  to  Ammon,  that 
form  the  aristocratic  race,  fitted  by  their  superior  endowments  to 
form  a  ruling  caste.  They  are  found  in  greater  numbers  in  the 
higher  walks  of  life  and  they  are  relatively  more  abundant  in  the 
higher  than  in  the  lower  grades  of  the  gymnasia.  In  the  migra- 
tion of  peoples  from  the  country  to  the^city  which  it  is  assumed 


igo         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

has  been  going  on  for  a  long  time  it  is  supposed  that  the  greater 
preponderance  of  the  dolichocephalic  race  in  the  city  population, 
and  especially  in  the  higher  levels  of  wealth  and  culture  is  the 
result  of  the  action  of  natural  selection  in  favor  of  the  superior 
type.  The  city  draws  the  best  of  the  country  stock,  and  of  the 
inhabitants  that  have  migrated  to  the  country  the  more  dolicho- 
cephalic succeed  best  in  the  struggle  for  wealth  and  power. 

We  may  admit  that  Ammon  has  shown  that  in  Baden  changes 
have  been  taking  place  in  the  characteristics  of  the  inhabitants. 
It  is  not  so  clear,  however,  that  these  changes  have  been  chiefly 
the  result  of  natural  selection.  The  racial  composition  of  com- 
munities is  very  apt  to  change  as  the  result  of  migration  and  the 
operation  of  differential  fecundity.  Many  of  us  have  witnessed  in 
this  country  a  marked  change  in  the  character  of  the  population 
of  restricted  localities  within  a  period  of  a  few  decades.  And  it 
is  quite  evident  that  such  changes  are  not  due  to  natural  selection. 
Observation  of  a  change  in  the  inhabitants  occurring  in  a  small 
area  and  in  a  comparatively  short  interval  of  time  will  not  offer 
conclusive  evidence  regarding  the  factors  producing  the  change. 
Most  of  the  anthropometric  data  assembled  to  prove  the  opera- 
tion of  natural  selection  is  not  convincing  in  that  it  does  not 
exclude  the  operation  of  other  possible  causes. 

Any  consideration  of  the  role  of  natural  selection  in  man  must 
take  account  of  the  much  discussed  question  of  the  selective 
nature  of  the  infant  death  rate.  The  first  year  is  by  far  the  most 
precarious  period  of  life.  The  infant  mortaUty  rate  varies  enor- 
mously in  different  countries,  according  to  social  and  economic 
conditions  and  the  general  enlightenment  of  the  inhabitants. 
In  Chile  in  1903  it  was  over  352  per  thousand  births.  For  several 
decades  in  most  countries  of  Europe  the  infant  mortality  rate  has 
been  somewhere  between  100  and  200  per  thousand.  It  is  high  in 
Prussia,  Austria,  Hungary  and  Russia,  but  exceptionally  low  in 
Norway  and  Sweden.  It  is  low  in  Australia  and  lowest  of  all  in 
New  Zealand  where  it  reached  the  remarkable  figure  of5iini9i2. 
The  infant  mortality  of  the  United  States  has  been  estim.ated  at 
124  for  1910,  although  in  the  absence  of  data  on  the  birth  rate 


NATURAL  SELECTION  IN  MAN  191 

this  figure  can  be  considered  only  as  a  rough  approximation  to 
the  truth. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  while  the  death  rate  of  most  civi- 
lized countries  has  been  falling  for  the  past  hundred  years  the 
infant  death  rate  in  general  should  have  suffered  little  improve- 
ment and  in  some  countries  actually  increased  up  to  the  beginning 
of  the  20th  century.  During  the  past  few  years  much  greater 
attention  has  been  devoted  to  the  subject,  and  a  variety  of  organ- 
izations have  been  active  in  checking  the  inexcusable  loss  of  infant 
life  which  has  been  so  long  suffered  to  go  on,  and  as  a  consequence 
infant  mortality  in  many  localities  has  very  rapidly  fallen.  In 
the  same  country  enormous  differences  in  the  infant  death  rate 
still  exist  in  different  towns  and  sections  not  far  removed  from 
each  other,  as  may  be  illustrated  by  the  infant  mortality  rates  of 
the  following  towns  of  Massachusetts  in  191 2: 

Chicopee 177 

North  Adams 1 13  •  i 

Waltham 86.8 

Brookline 55 

These  conditions  are  usually  associated  with  the  economic 
status  of  the  inhabitants.  The  death  rate  is  higher  in  urban 
than  in  rural  districts,  and  it  increases  in  cities  with  the  greater 
density  of  the  population. 

In  all  places  infant  mortality  is  very  much  higher  among  the 
poor.  In  fact  Mr.  Ashby  states  that  ''poverty  is  perhaps  the  first 
and  greatest  predisposing  factor  in  infant  mortaUty."  Duncan 
and  Duke  in  their  valuable  survey  of  the  infant  mortality  of 
Manchester,  N.  H.,  find  that  the  rate  of  infant  deaths  rapidly 
falls  as  the  income  of  the  father  rises.  Where  the  annual  earnings 
of  the  fathers  are  less  than  $450,  the  infant  mortality  rate  was 
found  to  be  242.9.  Fathers  earning  from  $650  to  $850  lose 
162.6  per  thousand  of  their  children,  while  those  earning  $1,250 
and  over,  lose  only  58.3.  Among  the  foreign  born  mothers  of 
Manchester  the  death  rate  was  183.5,  while  among  the  native 


192  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

born  it  was  128.1.  The  relatively  preventable  character  of  this 
mortality  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  length  of  residence  in  the 
United  States  was  found  to  affect  greatly  the  infant  mortality  of 
the  foreign  born  mothers;  those  mothers  who  had  been  here  over 
five  years  had  an  infant  mortality  rate  of  165.7,  while  for  those 
who  had  been  here  less  than  that  time  the  rate  was  248.8.  An 
investigation  of  the  infant  mortality  of  Montclair,  N.  J.,  by  the 
Children's  Bureau  gave  the  infant  mortality  among  the  native 
white  women  as  49,  among  the  foreign  born  as  88.1,  and  among 
the  negroes  15 1.5.  Wolf  compiled  statistics  in  Erfurt,  Germany, 
which  indicated  that  out  of  the  one  thousand  babies  born, 


50s 

died 

among 

the  working 

class 

173 

a 

n 

ii 

middle 

(( 

89 

(( 

a 

a 

rich 

a 

Dr.  John  Robertson  found  the  infant  mortality  in  Birmingham, 
England,  in  191 5  to  be  200  per  1,000  among  the  poor,  and  50  per 
1,000  among  the  middle  class  and  rich.  He  found  that  when  the 
father  earned  less  than  £1  a  week  if  the  mother  were  employed  at 
a  factory  the  infant  mortality  was  203,  if  she  were  employed  at 
home  or  elsewhere  it  was  187,  and  if  not  employed  191.  If  the 
father  earned  over  £1  a  week  and  the  mother  was  employed  in  a 
factory  the  infant  mortality  was  123,  if  employed  at  home  or  else- 
where it  was  53,  and  if  she  were  unemployed,  99. 

Undoubtedly  a  large  amount  of  infant  mortality  is  the  result 
of  the  ignorance  and  inexperience  of  mothers.  Poor  milk,  im- 
proper feeding,  inadequate  medical  attention,  and  unsanitary  liv- 
ing conditions  are  responsible  for  many  deaths  of  infants  especially 
among  the  poor.  Undoubtedly  as  a  result  of  these  conditions 
large  numbers  of  normal  and  healthy  infants  perish.  Several 
epidemics  common  to  infancy  and  childhood  are  practically  as  apt 
to  take  the  strong  as  the  weak,  and  with  improper  care  during 
illness  even  an  exceptionally  strong  child  may  die.  Many  stu- 
dents of  the  subject  consider  that  the  infant  death  rate  is  for  the 
most  part  quite  indiscriminate  and  non-selective  in  its  action. 


NATURAL  SELECTION  IN  MAN  193 

From  the  point  of  view  of  racial  welfare  one  should  distinguish 
between  the  elimination  of  infants  who  are  destined  to  produce 
inferior  adults  and  infants  who,  though  weak,  grow  up  into  adults 
who  are  strong  and  healthy.  The  preservation  of  the  latter  class 
of  infants  would  not  lead  to  undesirable  developments,  except 
perhaps  in  making  it  necessary  for  parents  to  bestow  more  care 
upon  their  new  born  children.  As  the  human  species  evolved 
from  animal  ancestry  infants  became  progressively  weaker  and 
required  more  and  more  attention  for  their  successful  rearing. 
Along  with  this  there  went  an  increase  in  the  amount  of  parental 
care  devoted  to  the  young.  Infants  may  be  very  poorly  adapted 
to  survival  in  an  unfavorable  environment  and  nevertheless  form, 
as  adults,  the  most  desirable  tj'pes  of  the  race.  Goethe  as  an 
infant  was  very  puny  and  his  life  was  for  a  time  almost  despaired 
of,  but  as  a  man  he  was  exceptionally  robust,  vigorous  and  long 
lived.  It  is  only  in  so  far  as  infantile  weakness  is  correlated 
with  weakness  or  defect  in  later  life  that  the  elimination  of  the 
less  hardy  babies  would  have  any  relation  to  racial  improvement. 
It  is  probable  that  despite  many  exceptions  there  is  a  general 
correlation  between  weakness  in  infancy  and  weakness  in  later 
life.  Ploetz  has  adduced  evidence  to  show  that  infant  and  child 
mortality  is  less  in  stocks  with  greater  longevity.  Part  of  the  data 
were  obtained  from  records  of  royal  families  (fiirstliche  Familien) 
of  Germany  and  another  part  from  families  mainly  of  the  middle 
class  (burgerliche  Familien).  The  results  may  be  seen  in  the 
following  table: 


194 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


1 

O 

•c 

in 

o 

in 
1 

to 

O     t^  Co 

r-.  CO     O 
CO    t^ 
f^  OO    Oo 

t^    lo    o 

OO       lO        . 

u^    m"    "^ 

tb  ^ 

^1 

o 

CO                c^ 

OO     w     " 

ON      M        H. 
M 

f 
^ 

OO     00       IN 

■O 

■*     Th     CO 
M              CO 

CO  O      lO 
CO    CO       • 

LO      W       lO 

1 

>H         O            ■ 

O    O    MD 

\0        M        CJ 

M    GO      lO 

lO      M        CO 

-    CO    o 

M                   CO 

1 

l^     M      (M 

o 

ly->    M      ^1 

??  OO     IS, 

-,    CO    i-i 

o 

O       <N 

CO     t~^  o 

-^      M        CO 

t^    lO  NO 

0>    CO       • 

On    CO    CO 

CO 

1 

CO 
O      M    CO 

ON 

OO     lo    O 

CO    1-1      -* 

t^     CO    t^ 
CO     t^       • 

CO 

0) 

vo      CO       ■ 
Ov    CO    to 
CO    M      CO 

CO 

CO    CO      On 

NO      IN    NO 
CO 

t^    o 

o 

On    rh       ■ 

NO    -^    o> 

M        T}-         • 
M                   t^ 

CO 

1 

C 
t 

c 

c 
12 

C 
> 

X 

a. 

d 
o 

.•^ 

o 

c 
(J 

c 

> 

C 

s 

o 
d 

c 

t 

c 
c 

c 

ir 

> 

NC 
t 

i 

x: 

■C 
a 

Q 

c 

u 

-a 

<u 
O 

t-l 

uaj 

PIIM 

3 

5,J9qi 

on 

en 

1 

1 

<*H 

>» 

tn 

o 

u     1> 

1 

in 

lU 

<J 

(U    .J 

•4-) 

7^ 

"a 

o 

•4-> 

in 

iddl 

fam 

O 

c: 

tM 

rt 

O 

r^ 

■    NO 

On     c^      CNj 

lO     On     cv^l 

►- 

o;: 

t^   NO         . 

OC 

't      • 

CN) 

CO 

t-^ 

CO   CO    NO 

to    t^     K, 

CO 

tN) 

N               "^ 

u^    h"    '^ 

CO      M 

o 

<M       On     " 

10    0"* 

CO 

CO 

^             OO 

NO 

"       lO 

04 

M 

':!-     »0    NO 

CS       M       lO 

NO 

NO       <N 

>+      C 

CN       M 

NC 

l-t 

M-      M 

CO 

CO     W       Tt- 

t^    c^    00     1 

CN 

CO 

p) 

CO     ^   CO 

1-1     <N     r^ 

s^" 

OC 

lO 

lo    O 

On    ^ 

ir, 

lO     <N     NO 

'     '*     On 

<N 

CO 

M 

M 

vo    0 

NO 

O    NO     >o 

(N 

( 

CO     o 

r^    c 

t^ 

to     Ol      lr\ 

<Ng 

^ 

H 

f^ 

VO      H 

"+ 

M      ^O        M 

^       t-       M 

T)-  t^     • 

O    CO 

0 

•O 

VO     1- 

h^ 

lO      M        t^ 

^    CO    '*■ 

CO 

CO 

M 

CO 

1^     lO     CO 

OO      CO    'l- 

lo  OO     CO 

NO 

CN)    00 

On     On       • 

CO       M 

M 

CS                  NO 

lO      M        CO 

CO 

CO 

CO 

0 

On     «n) 

CS       lO      M 

(N 

Tj-     CO 

On     Cn 

• 

NO      NO 

lO     On       ■      1 

c-< 

w             O 

C- 

r^ 

CO 

-tl- 

CO 

CO     fs 

p) 

CO    O     O 

NC 

C^       0) 

0 

H 

o 

M 

CN) 

o 

NO 

lO 

't 

C 

c 

c 

0) 

<u 

(D 

M 

>-i 

T^ 

X! 

-d  "O 

-d 

"c 

S 

'°  S 

old 
chil 

o 

,^    w 

u 

-d 

h    T3 

S2  -o 

2: 

NC 

■N  a 
-a 

i"     NO     ,S 

NO  -a 

-c 

4, 

*-M 

f  child 
before 
ent  of 

T. 

(U   ^ 

u 

OJ 

o 

befor 
ent  o 

C 

Td 

o 

°  -v    ^ 

c 

TJ     " 

c 

OJ 

6  .H    ^ 

o 

(U      1-1 

^ 

P 

(1h 

^  Q  P^ 

^ 

Q  &i 

uaj 

PHH 

3' 

3.J3H? 

M 

NATURAL  SELECTION  IN  MAN  195 

In  both  the  royal  and  the  middle  classes  the  percentage  of 
children  dying  under  six  years  of  age  decreases  as  the  age  at  death 
of  either  the  father  or  the  mother  increases.  In  other  words,  if 
either  parent  dies  young  it  greatly  decreases  the  expectation  of 
life  for  the  new  born  child.  How  are  we  to  interpret  this  relation- 
ship? It  might  be  urged  that  the  death  of  one  parent  would  be 
apt  to  involve  lack  of  adequate  care  for  the  children.  It  was 
pointed  out  that  while  this  might  partly  account  for  the  death 
rate  in  children  of  the  younger  parents  it  would  not  explain  the 
fact  that  the  child  death  rate  continues  to  fall  during  the  later 
age  periods  in  which  the  parents  are  so  old  that  their  death  could 
not  possibly  have  fallen  within  the  first  five  years  of  the  life  of  any 
of  their  children.  It  was  also  pointed  out  that  in  the  royal  fami- 
lies in  which  the  death  of  the  parent  would  not  leave  the  child 
without  adequate  means  of  support  there  is  much  the  same 
correlation  between  the  longevity  of  parent  and  child  mortality 
that  is  found  in  the  middle  class  families.  The  relation  of  child 
mortality  to  the  death  period  of  the  father  in  these  royal  families 
is  especially  noteworthy. 

The  results  are  attributed  by  Ploetz  to  the  inheritance  of 
different  degrees  of  constitutional  weakness.  Natural  selection, 
therefore,  acts  not  merely  on  the  parents  who  are  lacking  in  vigor, 
but  it  picks  out  their  young  offspring,  and  thus  tends  to  eliminate 
stocks  which  transmit  a  defective  vitality. 

It  is  probable  that  a  considerable  part  of  the  infant  death  rate 
that  seems  to  be  caused  by  external  factors  with  little  regard 
to  heredity  is  more  strongly  influenced  by  the  hereditary'  factor 
than  is  at  first  apparent.  Much  has  been  written  on  the  high 
mortaUty  of  artificially  fed  babies  as  compared  with  those  which 
are  breast  fed.  We  might  be  tempted  to  attribute  this  to  the 
great  superiority  of  the  mother's  milk  over  the  various  substitutes 
which  are  used  to  replace  it.  Certain  investigations  by  Pearson 
on  the  infant  mortality  of  breast  fed  and  artificially  fed  babies 
of  the  towns  of  Preston  and  Blackburn,  England,  have  shown  that 
the  death  rate  of  artificially  fed  babies  depends  largely  on  whether 
the  mothers  do  not  want  to  nurse  their  children,  or  fail  to  nurse 


196  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

them  because  they  are  unable  to  do  so  or  because  the  children 
are  unable  to  take  mothers'  milk.  "These  results,"  says  Pearson, 
''suggest  that  it  is  not  the  artificial  feeding,  but  the  health  of  the 
mother  which  is  the  dominating  factor  in  the  mortality  and 
delicacy  of  the  infant."  The  precise  role  of  heredity  here  is,  of 
course,  not  revealed,  but  the  facts  indicate  that  it  is  more  potent 
than  the  crude  data  on  the  relation  of  artificial  feeding  to  mor- 
tality would  indicate. 

Much  infantile  weakness,  however,  is  the  product  of  purely 
somatic  variability,  depending  upon  immaturity  of  birth,  illness 
or  misfortune  to  the  mother  and  many  other  fortuitous  conditions. 
Of  the  many  malformations  that  cause  infants  to  die  soon  after 
birth  there  is  in  relatively  few  cases  evidence  of  the  hereditary 
character  of  the  defect.  Such  variability  serves  to  mask  more  or 
less  the  true  hereditary  variations  that  may  be  present.  Natural 
selection  would  tend  to  eliminate  the  weak  or  imperfect  individ- 
uals whether  their  defects  were  hereditary  or  not,  but  it  is  only 
to  the  extent  that  the  purely  hereditary  variations  are  picked  out 
that  natural  selection  is  able  to  produce  any  racial  modification. 

A  high  infant  mortality  has  been  considered  by  some  investiga- 
tors as  racially  advantageous  in  that  a  larger  proportion  of  the 
congenitally  weak  are  eliminated.  The  preservation  of  a  larger 
proportion  of  the  new  born  would  save  many  weaklings  who 
would  produce  a  deterioration  of  the  vitality  of  the  population. 
The  Eugenics  Section  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Study 
and  Prevention  of  Infant  Mortality  recognized  that  under  present 
conditions  the  efforts  of  the  society  "must  necessarily  work  some 
anti-eugenic  results,"  although  maintaining,  as  practically  all  do, 
that  it  is  an  imperative  duty  to  check  infant  mortality  so  far  as 
possible.  No  one  seriously  proposes  to  do  away  with  medicine 
and  hygiene  because  the  death  rate  in  the  adult  population  is  to  a 
certain  degree  selective  and  it  would  hardly  be  consistent  to  deny 
the  benefits  of  medical  science  to  the  helpless  period  of  infancy. 
Even  those  who  maintain  that  a  high  infant  mortality  is  of  racial 
value  generally  hesitate  to  advocate  the  abolition  of  efforts  to 
reduce  it.    In  reading  the  literature  on  the  subject  one  cannot  fail 


NATURAL  SELECTION  IN  MAN  197 

to  be  impressed  with  the  fact  that  sentiment  has  considerably 
influenced  opinion  on  the  purely  matter  of  fact  problem  as  to 
whether  the  infantile  death  rate  is  or  is  not  selective.  The  prob- 
lem of  how  far  selection  occurs  in  the  early  periods  of  life  is  one 
of  great  difficulty  and  it  is  especially  important  that  it  be  ap- 
proached in  an  entirely  unbiased  spirit.  In  attacking  it  by  statis- 
tical methods  it  is  necessary  to  be  continually  on  one's  guard 
against  falling  into  the  many  pitfalls  which  lie  across  our  path. 

One  method  by  which  the  problem  has  been  attacked  is  to 
ascertain  the  relation  between  high  infant  mortality  and  the 
expectation  of  life  among  the  survivors.  Several  investigators 
(von  Erben,  Bleicher,  Gottstein  and  Rahts)  have  reported  that  a 
high  infant  or  child  mortality  is  followed  by  a  relatively  low 
mortality  in  later  life.  On  the  other  hand,  Newsholme  in  an 
elaborate  comparison  of  the  infant  and  child  death  rates  over 
several  districts  of  England  has  found  that  where  there  is  a  high 
infant  death  rate  there  is  also  a  high  death  rate  of  all  children  up 
to  the  period  of  adolescence.  Koppe  has  found  a  high  infant 
mortality  correlated  with  a  high  death  rate  in  the  second  year, 
and  Prinzing  has  found  a  similar  correlation  between  death  in  the 
first  year  and  deaths  from  i  to  4  years  of  age.  Sadayuki's  results 
show  that  in  separate  provinces  of  Germany  a  high  infantile  and  a 
high  child  death  rate  go  together.  Other  investigators  (Prinzing, 
V.  Vogt,  Peiger,  Mullhausen)  have  found  (contra  Grassl)  high 
infant  mortality  to  be  correlated  with  inferiority  of  recruits 
for  military  service. 

Those  who  have  concluded  from  these  results,  as  several  have 
done,  that  the  infant  death  rate  cannot  be  selective  have  drawn 
an  unwarranted  inference.  Many  conditions  which  produce  a 
high  infantile  death  rate  are  apt  to  cause  a  high  death  rate  also  in 
childhood  and  adolescence.  Ignorance,  poverty,  epidemic  dis- 
eases and  unsanitary  surroundings  take  their  toll  from  people  of 
all  ages,  and  the  fact  that  the  period  beyond  infancy  is  not  spared 
because  the  first  year  of  life  is  unduly  crowded  with  fatalities, 
in  no  way  proves  that  the  death  rate  is  not  selective  during  the 
whole  period.    It  is  not  a  fair  test  of  the  potency  of  selection  to 


igS  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

show  that  in  a  region  that  has  a  high  infant  death  rate,  the  death 
rate  for  older  children  is  higher  than  it  is  in  some  other  region 
with  a  low  infant  death  rate.  What  we  want  to  know  is  whether 
the  child  death  rate  is  less  than  it  would  have  been  under  the  same 
conditions  if  the  infant  death  rate  had  not  been  so  high.  If  it 
should  be  found  that  a  high  infant  mortality  is  generally  followed 
some  years  later  by  a  reduced  child  mortality  of  the  same  group 
and  under  the  same  environment  the  evidence  would  point  to  the 
selective  value  of  early  mortality. 

An  investigation  of  this  problem  was  made  by  Mr.  E,  C.  Snow 
whose  memoir  on  The  Intensity  of  Natural  Selection  in  Man  con- 
tains evidence  of  much  painstaking  and  critical  labor  even  though 
it  may  leave  something  to  be  desired  in  the  way  of  lucidity  of  expo- 
sition. The  data  for  one  study  were  taken  from  the  Reports  of  the 
Registrar  General  for  England  and  Wales,  and  those  for  another 
were  obtained  from  the  vital  statistics  of  Prussia.  Correlations 
were  worked  out  for  various  districts  of  England  and  Prussia 
between  the  mortality  of  early  life  (1-3  years  in  different  cases) 
and  the  mortality  of  subsequent  age  intervals.  After  many 
corrections  for  environmental  differences  and  the  variable  sizes  of 
the  cohorts,  the  data  were  found  to  show  a  negative  correlation 
between  the  death  rates  of  early  periods  and  those  of  later  periods 
of  life.  In  other  words,  a  relatively  high  death  rate  in  the  first 
period  renders  the  death  rate  of  the  survivors  in  the  subsequent 
period  less  than  it  otherwise  would  have  been.  Such  a  result  is 
not  inconsistent  with  the  conclusion  stated  previously,  that  cer- 
tain regions  have  a  relatively  high  death  rate  for  several  succes- 
sive years.  There  may  be  a  more  severe  selection  aU  through  life 
in  one  group  than  there  is  in  another. 

It  would  be  a  matter  of  interest  to  ascertain,  though  the 
problem  would  present  many  difficulties,  whether  the  death  rate 
tends  to  be  less  selective,  or  in  other  words  more  indiscriminate 
as  we  approach  the  period  of  birth.  A  priori,  this  would  seem 
to  be  very  probable.  There  may  be  some  truth  in  Dr.  D.  S. 
Jordan's  statement  that  "a  strong  child  can  be  killed  almost  as 
readily  as  a  weak  one  when  it  is  very  young,"  and  it  is  when 


NATURAL  SELECTION  IN  MAN  199 

infants  are  very  young  that  the  death  rate  is  by  far  the  highest. 
An  indiscriminate  death  rate  not  only  tends  to  mask  the  operation 
of  natural  selection,  but  it  interferes  with  its  action.  The  more 
the  purely  fortuitous  causes  of  death  are  removed  the  more  truly 
selective  the  remaining  part  of  the  death  rate  becomes.  It  is 
probable  that  many  important  causes  of  infant  mortality  could  be 
removed  without  interfering  greatly  with  the  kind  of  selective 
elimination  which  is  of  value  in  maintaining  racial  vitality. 
Certain  congenital  variations  may  lessen  the  chances  of  survival 
as  an  infant,  but  once  the  period  of  infancy  is  passed  there  may 
be  no  deleterious  effect  in  the  later  years  of  life.  Immaturity 
at  birth  may  lessen  an  infant's  chance  of  life,  but  after  a  few 
weeks  have  passed  there  may  be  no  more  trouble  from  this  cir- 
cumstance. The  lessening  of  infant  mortality  which  is  now  being 
so  successfully  accomplished  may  not  be  so  disadvantageous 
racially  after  all.  It  possibly  may  be  of  greater  racial  advantage 
to  shield  infancy  as  much  as  possible  and  thus  allow  an  increase 
of  deaths  to  occur  later  in  life  when  the  death  rate  is  apt  to  be 
more  discriminating.  It  is  only  those  infant  traits  which  are 
correlated  with  undesirable  adult  characteristics  which  it  would 
be  of  advantage  to  have  eliminated  from  the  race,  and  it  is  not 
clear  what  is  the  best  method  of  securing  this  result. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  a  considerable  part  of  the 
infant  death  rate  is  due  not  to  any  inherent  weakness  in  the 
infants  themselves,  but  to  defects  in  the  stock  which  are  mani- 
fested in  later  years.  Just  as  there  may  be  variations  which  are 
injurious  to  infancy  but  have  no  effect  on  the  welfare  of  an  older 
person,  so  there  are  variations  which  will  tend  to  be  eliminated  in 
older  persons  but  which  have  little  immediate  effect  upon  infancy. 
In  the  latter  class  are  to  be  included  those  inherent  defects  of 
mind  and  character  which  are  most  conspicuously  revealed  after 
several  years  of  life.  While  the  lower  types  of  mental  defectives 
may  be  more  apt  to  succumb  at  all  ages,  the  high-grade  morons 
and  people  of  dull  mentality  are  frequently  of  good  physical 
constitution,  and  it  is  probable  that  their  infants  under  good 
care  would  have  as  low  a  death  rate  as  those  born  of  more  intelli- 


200 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


gent  ancestry.  The  relatively  high  death  rate  among  the  infants 
of  this  class  is  a  secondary  result  of  the  mental  inferiority  of  their 
parents.  Natural  selection  tends  to  elimmate  this  class  of  indi- 
viduals not  so  much  through  taking  a  greater  toll  from  the  adults 
but  through  the  high  death  rate  of  their  offspring.  We  have 
already  remarked  upon  the  high  infant  mortaUty  of  such  stocks  as 
the  Jukes  and  Kallikaks.  Ashby  remarks  m  his  volume  on  Infant 
Mortality,  m  speaking  of  efforts  to  reduce  the  infant  death  rate  in 
New  York,  "The  unanimous  verdict  of  the  doctors,  who  have 
made  the  observations,  are  that  neither  the  surroundings  of  the 
infant,  nor  the  exact  character  of  the  milk  obtained,  were  as 
important  factors  in  the  health  of  the  infant  as  the  intelligent 
character  of  the  mother.  .  .  .  Ignorance  and  lack  of  intelligence 
are  thus  two  of  the  great  evils  which  we  have  to  contend  against, 
and  mothers  do  not  generally  appreciate  the  extent  upon  which 
infant  Hfe  depends  on  the  adoption  of  simple  hygienic  precau- 
tions." Those  who  are  slum  dwellers  through  low  intelligence 
and  natural  shif tlessness  have  a  high  infant  mortahty.  In  so  far 
as  unfavorable  conditions  for  infant  welfare  are  the  result  of  the 
inborn  inferiority  of  parents, — and  no  one  can  deny  that  they  are 
frequently  so  to  a  considerable  degree, — to  that  extent  natural 
selection  tends  to  eliminate  the  stock. 

In  this  connection  it  would  be  of  interest  to  consider  the  selec- 
tive effect  of  alcohol .  Alcoholism  in  the  parents  is  associated  with 
infant  mortality.    Dr.  Sullivan  has  compiled  the  following  data: 


Drunken  Mothers,  21. 
Sober  Mothers,  28. .  . . 


No.  of  children 


125 

138 


No.  of  children 
died  in  2  yrs 


69 
Z7> 


Percentage  of 
dead  children 


55-2 
239 


Much  more  data  could  be  adduced  to  the  same  effect,  but  we 
shall  refer  the  reader  to  other  sources  for  fuller  information.  It  is 
generally  recognized  that  the  victims  of  alcohohsm  are  to  a  large 
extent  individuals  of  neuropathic  inheritance.    Alcohol  picks  out 


NATURAL  SELECTION  IN  MAN  201 

the  defective  members  of  the  race  and  if  it  does  not  eliminate 
them  directly,  it  causes  or  rather  augments  the  death  rate  of  their 
progeny  and  hence  works  toward  the  extirpation  of  their  breed. 

From  the  standpoint  of  eugenics  the  infant  mortality  that 
results  from  inherent  incompetence  or  moral  depravity  has  its 
obvious  advantages.  If  stocks  such  as  the  Jukes,  Kallikaks  and 
Tribe  of  Ishmael  had  had  an  infant  mortality  even  higher  than  it 
was  there  would  be  few  who  would  regret  the  fact.  It  would  have 
been  much  better  had  these  degenerates  never  been  born.  But 
having  been  brought  into  the  world  perhaps  the  next  best  thing 
would  have  been  for  them  to  have  died  young. 

By  way  of  summary  the  kinds  of  infant  mortality  we  have 
distinguished  may  be  expressed  as  follows: 

1.  Non-selective  elimination.  This  is  of  no  racial  value  and  not 
only  masks  the  workings  of  natural  selection,  but  interferes  with  the 
stringency  of  its  action. 

2.  Selective  elimination  of  non-hereditary  characters.  We  might 
consider  this  a  racially  impotent  form  of  natural  selection. 

3.  Selective  elimination  of  characters  of  value  only  during  infancy. 
Racial  effect  not  beneficial  beyond  rendering  infancy  more  hardy. 

4.  Selective  elimination  of  infantile  weakness  or  defect  which  would 
produce  diminished  vigor  in  later  life. 

5.  Selective  elimination  of  infants  not  in  themselves  weak  or  imper- 
fect, but  who  would  develop  into  socially  undesirable  persons.  They 
are  eliminated  in  greater  numbers  because  of  the  incompetence  of 
their  parents. 

The  last  two  forms  of  selection  are  strongly  working  in  the 
direction  of  racial  advance. 

The  doctrine  that  the  human  species  may  be  in  any  way  im- 
proved through  the  selective  elimination  of  infants  has  been 
opposed  on  the  ground  that  whatever  agencies  cause  babies  to  die 
would  also  involve  more  or  less  permanent  injury  upon  the  sur- 
vivors. In  commenting  on  those  writers  who  commend  a  high 
infant  death  rate  on  account  of  its  selective  value,  Dr.  Saleeby 
remarks:  "But  waiving  here  the  observation  that  'natural  selec- 


202  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

tion '  is  being  curiously  revived  by  these  inexperienced  eugenists 
just  when  it  is  being  discarded  by  biologists,  we  may  note  that 
any  process  of  selection  which  can  be  justified  must  weed  out 
the  worthless  without  damaging  the  worthy.  Such  is  the  pre- 
sumed action  of  natural  selection.  But  to  talk  of  natural  selec- 
tion in  anything  so  hideously  uimatural  as  a  slum  is  wildly  un- 
scientific. .  .  .  What  really  happens  in  a  slum,  of  course,  is  the 
damaging  of  all  the  life  therein."  We  need  not  tarry  over  the 
reckless  statements  into  which  Dr.  Saleeby  has  been  led  appar- 
ently through  the  warmth  of  indignant  protest  against  what 
he  has  called  the  ''better  dead  school."  We  might  be  tempted 
to  remark  that  it  was  "inexcusable"  for  any  one  having  the  least 
acquaintance  with  current  biological  thought  and  investigation 
to  refer  to  natural  selection  as  a  sort  of  exploded  notion  which  has 
been  given  up  by  modern  biologists.  And  we  might  comment 
on  the  absurdity  of  saying  that  natural  selection  cannot  be  oper- 
ative in  a  slum  because  the  conditions  there  are  "unnatural." 
But  disregarding  these  somewhat  impetuous  pronouncements, 
it  may  be  said  in  regard  to  the  main  conclusion  that  the  fact 
that  agencies  which  are  inimical  to  infancy  may  also  deteriorate 
the  quality  of  the  survivors  in  no  wise  proves  that  natural  selec- 
tion is  not  in  vigorous  operation.  Its  effects  may  not,  on  the 
whole,  be  desirable,  but  that  is  another  matter.  If  bad  environ- 
ment weeds  out  unfavorable  germinal  variations,  while  at  the 
same  time  it  stunts  the  development  of  the  more  favorable 
ones  which  it  spares,  the  biological,  or  perhaps  we  should  say 
the  germinal  gain  might  be  more  than  offset  by  the  social  loss. 
It  might  not  profit  us  to  be  the  product  of  superior  germ  plasm 
if  we  had  to  live  under  conditions  in  which  we  could  not  attain 
our  full  development.  To  how  great  an  extent  do  the  agencies 
that  commonly  produce  a  high  infant  mortality  handicap  in- 
dividuals in  their  later  development?  How  far  is  the  fact  that 
certain  localities  with  a  high  infant  mortality  have  a  high  child 
and  adult  mortality  due  to  the  handicapping  of  infancy,  and  how 
far  is  it  due  to  the  direct  effect  of  the  unfavorable  conditions  of 
later  years?    There  is  reason  to  believe  that  both  of  these  factors 


NATURAL  SELECTION  IN  MAN  203 

have  a  strong  influence  on  the  mortality  of  later  life.  And  there  is 
another  factor  which  may  be  operative,  and  that  is  the  influence 
of  unfavorable  surroundings  on  the  germ  plasm.  It  is,  of  course, 
possible  that  many  conditions  leading  to  a  high  infant  death 
rate  may  affect  the  germ  plasm  in  such  a  way  as  to  produce 
variations  of  an  inferior  kind.  It  is  on  this  point  that  we  are  in 
most  urgent  need  of  more  light.  Selective  agencies  differ  in  their 
effect  upon  the  general  vitality  of  the  organisms.  The  problem  of 
how  any  agent  of  elimination  may  affect  the  race  is  complicated 
by  its  possible  action  in  producing  variations  in  the  germ  plasm. 
A  high  infant  death  rate  caused  by  agencies  with  an  injurious 
effect  on  the  germ  plasm  instead  of  being  a  blessing  in  disguise 
might  prove  to  be  an  index  of  racial  decay. 

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Snow,  E.  C.    On  the  Intensity  of  Natural  Selection  in  Man.    Drapers'  Co.  Mems.  7, 

1911. 
Steinmetz,  S.  R.    Der  erbliche  Rassen-imd  Volkscharakter.    Viertel  jahreschr.  f. 

wiss.  Philos.  u.  Soziol.  Leipzig,  1902,  77-126;  Bedeutung  unp  Tragweite  der 

Selektionstheorie  in  den  Sozialwissenschaften.    Zeit.  f.  Sozialwiss,  1906,  471. 
Westergaard,  H.    Die  Lehre  von  der  Mortalitat  und  Morbiditat,  2d  ed.,  G.  Fischer, 

Jena,  1901.    (ist  ed.,  1882.) 
Weinberg,  W.    Die  Sterblichkeit  der  Kinder  der  Tuberculosen,  insbesoridere  nach 

der  Geburtszeit.  Arch.  soz.  Hyg.  6,  191 1;  Die  rassenhygienische  Bedeutung  der 

Fruchtbarkeit.  Arch.  Rass.  Ges.  Biol.  8,  25-32,  1911. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  SELECTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  WAR 

''Though,  during  barbarism  and  the  earlier  stages  of  civihzation, 
war  has  the  effect  of  exterminating  the  weaker  societies,  and  of  weed- 
ing out  the  weaker  members  of  the  stronger  societies,  and  thus  in  both 
ways  furthering  the  development  of  those  valuable  powers,  bodily 
and  mental,  which  war  brings  into  play;  yet  during  the  later  stages  of 
civihzation,  the  second  of  these  actions  is  reversed.  .  .  .  But  when 
the  industrial  development  has  become  such  that  only  some  of  the 
adult  males  are  drafted  into  the  army,  the  tendency  is  to  pick  out  and 
expose  to  slaughter  the  best-grown  and  healthiest;  leaving  behind  the 
physically-inferior  to  propagate  the  race." — Herbert  Spencer,  The 
Study  of  Sociology. 

The  subject  of  the  present  chapter  really  belongs  under  the 
heading  of  the  preceding  one.  Of  the  many  forms  of  selective 
elimination  which  are  at  work  in  human  society,  war  is  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous.  It  involves  a  struggle  for  existence  in  the 
most  literal  sense  of  that  term,  but  whether  in  general  it  even- 
tuates in  the  survival  of  the  fittest  depends  upon  many  circum- 
stances which  are  often  difficult  to  estimate.  Although  many 
have  written  about  it  as  if  it  consisted  merely  in  the  struggle  of 
rival  contestants  of  which  the  strongest  or  most  skillful  worsted 
his  adversary,  the  biological  effect  of  war  is  no  simple  problem. 
"If  it  were  not  for  war,"  says  General  Bernhardi,  "we  should 
find  that  inferior  and  degenerated  races  would  overcome  healthy 
and  youthful  ones  by  their  wealth  and  their  numbers.  The 
generative  importance  of  war  lies  in  this,  that  it  causes  selection, 
and  thus  war  becomes  a  biological  necessity.  It  becomes  an  indis- 
pensable regulator,  because  without  war  there  could  never  be 
racial  nor  cultural  progress." 

The  same  position  has  been  developed  by  many  writers,  some  of 
them  militarists,  and  others  who  have  been  led  to  this  view-point 

205 


2o6  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

by  what  they  considered  to  be  the  teachings  of  Darwin.  It  is 
only  recently  that  general  currency  has  been  given  to  the  idea 
that  war  as  a  selective  agent  works  toward  racial  degeneracy 
instead  of  improvement.  One  of  the  chief  advocates  of  the 
abolition  of  war,  Prof.  Novicow,  states  that  "War  produces  in- 
deed a  selection,  a  choice  of  the  worst.  The  young  men  strongest 
and  most  healthy  go  to  the  war.  Among  its  combatants,  the  most 
valiant  take  the  lead.  In  consequence,  the  more  perfect  the 
individual,  the  greater  his  chance  to  be  killed.  In  most  battles  it 
is  the  best  that  fall.  On  the  other  hand,  the  feeble  and  sickly 
elements,  those  not  enrolled  under  the  banners  of  war,  reproduce 
themselves,  while  the  flower  of  the  nation  is  condemned  to  celi- 
bacy or  to  relations  with  prostitutes,  this  leading  so  often,  alas,  to 
the  most  fatal  results." 

In  this  country  opposition  to  war  on  biological  grounds  has 
been  carried  on  vigorously  by  Dr.  D.  S.  Jordan  who  for  a  number 
of  years  has  been  devoting  his  chief  energies  to  investigating, 
lecturing  and  writing  on  this  subject.  The  readers  who  wish  to 
find  the  case  against  war  presented  in  a  forcible  and  eminently 
readible  manner  may  be  referred  to  Dr.  Jordan's  books  on  The 
Blood  of  the  Nation,  The  Human  Harvest,  and  War  and  the  Breed. 
The  reversal  of  selection  which  war  effects  is,  according  to  Dr. 
Jordan,  one  of  the  most  powerful  forces  working  for  national 
deterioration.  "'The  best  ye  bred'  is  war's  insatiable  call. 
Send  us  your  best,  your  fittest,  your  most  courageous,  your 
youths  of  patriotism  and  your  men  of  loyal  worth,  send  them  all 
and  breed  your  next  generation  from  war's  unfit  remainder.  .  .  . 
Like  seed  like  harvest,  you  cannot  breed  a  Clydesdale  from  a 
cayuse,  neither  can  the  weakling  remnant  of  a  warlike  nation 
breed  a  new  generation  of  heroes  for  a  new  generation's 
wars." 

Large  standing  armies  are  dysgenic  as  well  as  actual  war. 
Darwin,  whose  teachings  have  so  often  been  appealed  to  in  sup- 
port of  militarism,  said  "  In  every  country  in  which  a  large  stand- 
ing army  is  kept  up,  the  finest  young  men  are  taken  by  the  con- 
scription or  are  enlisted.    They  are  thus  exposed  to  early  death 


THE  SELECTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  WAR  207 

during  war,  are  often  tempted  into  vice  and  are  prevented  from 
marrying  during  the  prime  of  life.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
shorter  and  feebler  men,  with  poor  constitutions,  are  left  at 
home,  and  consequently  have  a  much  better  chance  of  marrying 
and  propagating  their  kind." 

Where  there  is  universal  military  service  the  best  of  the  youths 
are  taken  for  recruits  and  are  withdrawn  from  opportunities  for 
marrying  during  the  period  when  they  are  forced  to  bear  arms. 
Barrack  life,  at  least  until  recently,  has  led  to  the  increase  of 
venereal  disease  which  has  always  been  one  of  the  chief  evils 
of  military  life.  Hospital  admissions  from  the  armies  of  Great 
Britain,  United  States  and  several  other  countries  have  been 
frightfully  high.  The  disastrous  consequences  of  venereal  infec- 
tion in  later  married  life  need  not  be  dwelt  upon.  Matters  are 
rapidly  impro\'ing,  however,  in  this  regard,  and  the  recent  statis- 
tics of  the  American  Army  afford  a  remarkable  example  of  what 
may  be  accomplished.  Should  the  venereal  peril  be  overcome 
perhaps  the  chief  evil  of  army  Hfe  would  be  abolished.  In  a 
system  of  military  conscription  which  takes  young  men  of  but 
20  years  of  age  and  keeps  them  in  training  for  two  or  three  years 
it  is  claimed  that  the  effect  of  delaying  marriage  would  not  be 
significant.  In  most  cases,  however,  the  returning  recruit  is 
more  or  less  delayed  in  making  the  economic  preparation  for 
marriage,  so  that  this  event  may  take  place  considerably  later 
than  it  otherwise  would  have  occurred. 

What  would  seem,  a  priori,  to  be  the  effects  of  war  from  the 
principles  of  heredity  and  selection  Dr.  Jordan  attempts  to  sub- 
stantiate by  an  inductive  study  of  what  the  after  effects  of  war 
have  actually  been.  In  their  volume  on  War's  Aftermath  D.  S. 
Jordan  and  H.  E.  Jordan  give  the  results  of  their  studies  of  the 
effect  of  the  Civil  War  on  the  population  of  Virginia.  Their 
studies  consisted  of  an  intensive  investigation  of  two  counties, 
and  a  more  cursory  survey  of  several  others,  "the  whole  checked 
up  by  the  opinions  of  fifty-five  Confederate  veterans  of  excep- 
tional character  and  intelligence."  I  quote  some  of  the  chief 
conclusions  drawn  from  the  work : 


2o8  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

1.  The  leading  men  of  the  South  were  part  of  select  companies  and 
these  were  the  first  to  enlist. 

2.  The  flower  of  the  people  went  into  the  war  at  the  beginning  and 
of  these  a  large  part  (20  to  40  per  cent)  died  before  the  end. 

3.  War  took  chiefly  the  physically  fit;  the  unfit  remaining  behind. 

4.  Conscripts,  though  in  many  cases  the  equal  of  volunteers,  were 
on  the  average  inferior  to  the  latter  in  moral  and  physical  quaUties, 
making  poorer  soldiers. 

5.  A  certain  rather  small  mmiber  ("bushmen")  fled  to  the  hills  and 
other  places  to  avoid  conscription.  Others  deserted  from  the  ranks 
and  joined  them.  These  deserters  suffered  much  inconvenience,  but 
little  loss  of  life. 

6.  The  volunteer  militia  companies,  having  enlisted  at  the  begin- 
ning, lost  more  heavily  than  the  conscript  companies  who  entered 
later. 

7.  The  result  was  that  the  men  of  highest  character  and  quality 
bore  largely  the  brunt  of  the  war  and  lost  more  heavily  than  their 
inferiors.  Thus  was  produced  a  change  in  the  balance  of  society  by 
reducing  the  percentage  of  the  best  types  without  a  corresponding 
reduction  of  the  less  desirable  ones,  a  condition  which  was  projected 
into  the  next  generation  because  the  inferior  lived  to  have  progeny 
and  the  others  did  not. 

Most  of  the  widows  of  soldiers  never  married  again  and  many 
soldiers'  fiances  remained  unmarried  or  married  below  their 
previous  station.  A  study  of  the  share  of  university  men  in  the 
war  showed  that  a  considerably  larger  proportion  fell  in  battle 
than  of  the  other  men  engaged.  As  a  southern  officer  remarked, 
"Those  who  fought  the  most  survived  the  least."  "There  is 
always,  in  war,"  says  Jordan,  "a  percentage  against  the  man  of 
intelligence  because  he  is  likely  to  be  the  man  of  courage,  and  the 
man  who  will  die  because  he  believes  it  to  be  the  right." 

As  Bodart  remarks,  "The  officers  of  an  army  almost  always 
suffer  a  much  higher  percentage  of  casualties  than  the  men.  This 
is  to  be  explained  by  the  effort  of  the  officer  to  set  before  his  men 
a  good  example  in  cool,  courageous  conduct."  Haushofer  gives 
the  following  statistics  of  the  Prussian  losses  of  different  ranks  in 
the  Franco-Prussian  war: 


THE  SELECTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  WAR  209 

Generals 46  per  1,000 

Staff  Officers 105    "      " 

Captains,  Captains  of  Horse 86    "      " 

Lieutenants 89    "      " 

Under  Officers  and  Men 45    "      " 

Since  in  general  officers  represent  a  class  superior  in  intelligence 
and  efficiency  their  enhanced  death  rate  in  war  cannot  fail  to 
have  a  dysgenic  effect. 

In  his  treatment  of  the  biological  influence  of  war  it  is  some- 
what unfortunate  that  Dr.  Jordan  should  have  limited  himself 
to  the  simpler  and  more  obvious  aspects  of  the  subject.  He  has 
done  good  service  in  calling  general  attention  to  the  dysgenic 
effect  of  certain  aspects  of  military  selection,  but  he  has  given 
slight  attention  to  or  passed  over  in  silence  several  of  its  secondary 
biological  results  and  especially  the  very  important  problem  of 
the  racial  value  of  group  selection.  There  are  some  counter 
tendencies  which,  while  they  may  not  outweigh  the  effect  of  losses 
in  battle,  are  nevertheless  of  considerable  importance.  Sickness 
in  most  wars  carries  off  more  soldiers  than  fall  in  battle.  Accord- 
ing to  Kellogg,  ''In  the  terrible  20-year  stretch  of  the  Napoleonic 
campaigns  the  British  Army  had  an  annual  rate  of  mortality  from 
all  causes  of  56.21  per  thousand  men;  the  mortaUty  from  disease 
was  49.61  per  thousand,  leaving  the  direct  loss  from  gun  fire  to  be 
only  7.60  per  thousand.  The  British  losses  in  the  Crimea  in  two 
and  a  half  years  were  3  per  cent  by  gun  fire  and  20  per  cent  by 
disease."  In  our  Spanish  war  we  lost  ten  times  as  many  soldiers 
from  disease  as  we  did  in  battle.  Even  in  the  short  Franco- 
Prussian  war  the  losses  by  disease  slightly  exceeded  the  losses 
from  gun  fire.  This  high  mortality  from  disease  affords  a  certain 
test  of  toughness,  as  it  is  fair  to  suppose  that  those  with  the  weak- 
est constitutions  succumb  in  the  largest  numbers.  This,  how- 
ever, eliminates  only  the  worst  of  the  best  and  its  general  value  to 
the  race  is,  therefore,  open  to  question. 

Another  secondary  effect  of  importance  is  the  influence  of  war 
on  the  civiHan  death  rate  and  birth  rate.    This  influence  varies 


2IO  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

greatly  according  to  the  degree  to  which  a  nation  suffers  through 
hardship,  disease  and  other  factors  that  affect  the  people  who  do 
not  bear  arms.  It  is  naturally  the  population  of  the  defeated 
nation  which  suffers  most.  In  France,  according  to  Dumas,  the 
civilian  death  rate,  in  1869,  just  before  the  Franco-Prussian  war 
was  23.4  per  thousand,  but  in  1870,  it  went  up  to  28.3  and  in  1871 
to  34.8;  it  then  fell  in  1872  to  21.9.  Nearly  every  great  war  is 
accompanied  by  the  introduction  of  some  epidemic  which  rages 
in  the  civ^l  population.  Smallpox,  cholera,  the  plague  and  various 
other  diseases  have  been  carried  from  one  nation  to  another  by 
armies  and  have  often  led  to  losses  much  greater  than  those 
sustained  by  the  armies  in  the  field. 

In  the  recent  war  the  population  of  Belgium  and  Serbia  have 
been  subjected  to  suffering  almost  without  parallel  in  modern 
times,  but  hardship  is  no  stranger  in  the  land  of  their  oppressors, 
especially  among  the  poorer  classes.  The  infant  death  rate  has 
been  abnormally  high  and  the  birth  rate  has  rapidly  fallen  since 
the  outbreak  of  war.  The  actual  and  potential  losses  among  the 
civilian  population  have  been  enormous,  and  it  will  require  many 
years  before  the  Central  Powers  can  recuperate  from  the  effects  of 
this  drain  upon  their  human  resources.  What  is  the  incidence  of 
this  enhanced  civilian  death  rate?  For  a  considerable  part  of  the 
population  who  are  not  fortunately  situated  it  would  doubtless, 
on  the  average,  affect  those  who  are  constitutionally  weak  with 
especial  severity.  Ammon  maintains  that  the  high  death  rate 
during  wars  is  a  racial  advantage  in  so  far  as  this  is  the  result  of 
epidemics,  and  Drs.  G.  A.  Reid  and  Haycraft  would  probably 
agree  with  him.  The  racial  effect  of  the  death  rate  would  doubt- 
less depend  much  upon  circumstances  which  vary  from  war  to 
war.  The  selective  value  of  epidemics  for  instance  depends 
greatly,  as  has  been  pointed  out  before,  on  the  particular  diseases 
which  are  disseminated.  Where  general  massacres  are  indulged  in 
as  in  Armenia,  or  where  the  inhabitants  of  certain  villages  are 
stood  up  against  a  stone  wall  and  shot,  nothing  can  be  said  of  the 
selective  working  of  the  death  rate.  Long  wars  are  especially  apt 
to  work  havoc  in  the  general  population.    But  even  in  the  short 


THE  SELECTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  WAR  211 

Franco-Prussian  war  the  increase  in  deaths  among  the  civilian 
population  of  France  was  greatly  in  excess  of  the  total  deaths  in 
the  army.  The  excess  of  deaths  over  the  number  for  1869  was 
183,000  for  1870  and  407,000  for  1871,  while  the  total  deaths  of 
soldiers  and  officers  for  the  two  years  (1870  and  187 1)  of  the 
war  was  140,000.    These  are  grouped  by  Bodart  as  follows: 

Killed  and  died  of  wounds 60,000 

Died  in  prison 17,000 

Died  in  Switzerland  and  Belgium 2,000 

(after  being  disarmed) 

Died  of  disease  and  exhaustion 61,000 


Total 140, 


000 


It  is  evident  that  no  small  part  of  the  biological  influence  of 
war  must  depend  upon  the  effect  produced  on  the  civilian  popula- 
tion. In  a  great  many  cases  this  must  have  been  much  greater 
than  the  influence  of  death  on  the  battle  field.  The  varied 
character  of  this  effect,  however,  precludes  any  treatment  of  the 
subject  in  general  terms.  Besides,  we  know  as  yet  but  little  as  to 
just  what,  in  any  case,  the  biological  results  have  been. 

It  is  urged  that  a  partial  compensation  for  losses  in  battle  is 
afforded  by  the  greater  chance  for  marriage  enjoyed  by  men  who 
have  been  in  the  army.  The  marriage  rate,  which  is  low  during 
war  time,  goes  up  quickly  after  peace  is  resumed.  Nature  has 
endowed  the  female  sex  with  a  commendable  partiality  for  the 
military  hero.  This  circumstance,  combined  with  the  fact  that 
the  superior  vigor  of  the  returning  soldiers  would  tend  to  make 
them  more  prolific  would,  it  is  claimed,  keep  the  more  virile  stocks 
from  being  depleted.  We  have  to  consider  in  this  connection, 
however,  the  influence  of  venereal  infection  which  army  life  has 
unfortunately  tended  to  intensify  and  also  the  after  effect  of  war 
on  the  health  and  longevity  of  the  soldier.  As  Lapouge  has  re- 
marked, "a  la  caserne  meme  et  en  pleine  paix,  des  deteriorations 
sont  produites  en  nombre  par  le  sur  menage,  par  les  t}q3hoides 
benignes,  par  les  affections  veneriennes.     Beaucoup  d'hommes 


212  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

contractent  an  moins  des  blennorhagies,  et  il  n'y  a  guere  d'ofl&cier 
qui  n'en  compte  plusieurs;  la  s}"philis  est  presque  aussi  frequente. 
Ces  deux  affections  sont  d'une  importance  extreme  au  point  de 
vue  du  manage  et  de  la  reproduction." 

The  effect  of  wounds,  epidemics  and  hardship  tend  to  leave 
large  numbers  of  soldiers  in  a  decrepid  state,  by  which  they  are 
handicapped  economically  and  are  to  a  certain  extent  kept  from 
marr\ing.  The  superior  opportunities  for  marrying  enjoyed  by 
the  officers  do  not  eventuate  in  much  racial  benefit  since  the  birth 
rate  in  military  sets  is  unusually  low. 

On  the  whole  it  is  quite  probable,  I  believe,  that  the  effect 
of  military  selection  is  dysgenic.  So  far  as  the  direct  effect  of 
conflict  is  concerned  there  would  be  little  doubt  of  this  and  it  has 
been  admitted  by  many  who  have  claimed  that  war  in  general  is 
to  be  commended  on  biological  grounds.  It  is  a  matter  of  serious 
doubt  whether  the  counteracting  factors  come  near  outweighing 
the  selective  effect  of  battle. 

There  have  been  several  attempts  to  show  that  the  children 
born  during  war  time  do  not  develop  into  such  large  and  vigorous 
men  as  those  who  are  born  before  or  after  the  war,  and  who 
therefore  come  to  a  larger  degree  from  fathers  who  were  in  mili- 
tary' service.  Kellogg  states  that  the  statistics  kept  by  the  French 
Government  on  the  physical  character  of  recruits  show  that  "the 
average  height  of  the  men  of  France  began  notably  to  decrease 
with  the  coming  of  age,  in  1 8 13  and  on,  of  the  young  men  born  in 
the  years  of  the  Revolutionary  Wars  (1792-1802),  and  that  it 
continued  to  decrease  in  the  following  years  with  the  coming  of 
age  of  youths  born  during  the  Wars  of  the  Empire.  Soon  after 
the  cessation  of  these  terrible  man-draining  wars,  for  the  main- 
tenance of  which  a  great  part  of  the  able-bodied  male  population 
of  France  had  been  withdrawn  from  their  families  and  the  duties 
of  reproduction,  and  much  of  this  part  actually  sacrificed,  a  new 
type  of  boys  began  to  be  born,  boys  indeed  that  had  in  them  an 
inheritance  of  stature  that  carried  them  by  the  time  of  their  com- 
ing of  age  in  the  later  1830's  and  1840's  to  a  height  one  inch 
greater  than  that  of  the  earlier  generations  born  in  war  time.    The 


THE  SELECTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  WAR  213 

average  height  of  the  annual  conscription  contingents  born 
during  the  Napoleonic  Wars  was  about  1625  mm.;  of  those  born 
after  the  wars  it  was  about  1655  mm."  Exemptions  for  infirmi- 
ties ran  nearly  parallel  with  exemptions  for  undersize. 

The  researches  of  Lapouge  on  the  height,  color  and  head  form 
of  recruits  born  in  the  cantons  of  Herault  just  before,  during  and 
after  the  Franco-Prussian  War  offer  interesting  results.  The 
classes  of  recruits  born  in  187 1  (during  the  war)  were,  with  the 
exception  of  those  in  a  few  urban  cantons,  shorter  than  those  born 
in  1867.  Those  born  in  187 1  were  of  lighter  complexion  than  the 
recruits  of  preceding  and  succeeding  years.  It  was  found  that 
in  Herault  the  blonds  furnished  an  undue  proportion  of  those 
who  were  rejected  for  military  service.  The  recruits  born  in 
187 1  were  characterized  by  an  unusual  degree  of  brachycephaly 
while  those  born  in  1872  had  a  doHchocephaly  no  less  exaggerated, 
the  one  class  being  with  heads  broader  than  the  average,  the  other 
with  heads  narrower  than  the  average.  It  has  been  objected  by 
Steinmetz  and  Whetham  that  the  smaller  size  of  the  recruits  born 
in  187 1  is  due,  not  to  selection,  but  to  the  stunting  effects  of  the 
hardships  entailed  during  the  war.  Granting  that  this  might 
account  for  their  lower  stature,  it  could  not  explain  the  relatively 
large  number  of  blond  and  brachycephalic  types.  The  latter 
seem  to  have  preponderated  among  the  classes  of  rejected 
recruits. 

In  any  evaluation  of  the  biological  effects  of  war  we  must 
consider  not  only  the  characteristics  of  the  individuals  who  are 
destroyed  in  each  country,  but  the  effects  of  the  victory  of  one 
group  of  contestants  over  another  group.  Clans,  tribes  and 
nations  function  as  units  in  the  struggle  for  existence.  Other 
things  equal,  the  group  with  the  greatest  military  efficiency  will 
be  victorious.  Even  though  the  selective  elimination  within  each 
group  should  be  dysgenic,  the  survival  of  a  superior  people  may 
lead  to  a  racial  advance.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  what 
may  be  called  group  selection  has  proven  of  great  importance  in 
the  evolution  of  the  human  species.  It  has  placed  a  premium 
upon  the  virtues  of  fealty,  reliability,  sympathy  and  all  those 


214  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

other  altruistic  traits  which  promote  harmonious  cooperation 
and  social  efficiency.  Through  its  influence  in  moulding  human 
nature  man  has  become  a  social  animal.  Those  groups  in  which 
s}Tnpathy,  mutual  helpfulness  and  loyalty  were  best  developed 
would  naturally  prevail  over  others  in  which  the  purely  individ- 
ualistic propensities  dominated  over  the  social  impulses.  Hu- 
man nature  with  its  pugnacity,  its  combination  of  self-assertion 
and  subordination,  and  the  various  herd  instincts  by  which  at 
times  it  is  so  powerfully  moved  has  been  fashioned  in  the  stern 
school  of  conflict. 

Undoubtedly  warfare  among  our  primitive  human  ancestors 
was  an  institution  with  very  different  effect  on  the  race  than  war 
among  civilized  peoples.  When  practically  the  whole  tribe  went 
to  war  the  effect  would  more  often  be  the  preservation  of  the 
most  vigorous  and  capable  men  in  the  hand  to  hand  encounters 
which  are  characteristic  of  primitive  peoples.  Primitive  warfare 
was  more  nearly  on  the  level  of  the  conflicts  between  our  animal 
ancestors.  Its  results  were  probably  eugenic  rather  than  dysgenic, 
both  as  regards  individual  selection  and  the  selection  of  rival 
groups.  Walter  Bagehot  who  was  one  of  the  first  to  emphasize 
the  importance  of  group  selection  (it  had  been  recognized  by 
Darwin)  remarks  in  his  able  and  original  work  on  Physics  and 
Politics,  ''What  makes  one  tribe  ...  to  differ  from  another  is 
their  relative  faculty  of  coherence.  The  slightest  symptom  of 
legal  development,  the  least  indication  of  a  military  bond,  is  then 
enough  to  turn  the  scale.  The  compact  tribes  win,  and  the 
compact  tribes  are  the  tamest.  Civilization  begins,  because  the 
beginning  of  civilization  is  a  military  advantage." 

When  human  beings  possess  only  a  very  small  amount  of  cul- 
ture, differences  in  the  innate  endowments  of  rival  groups  must 
have  frequently,  if  not  usually,  played  a  decisive  role  in  the  deter- 
mination of  supremacy.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  as  man 
becomes  more  of  a  social  animal  he  becomes  more  of  a  warlike 
animal.  One  of  the  most  common  results  of  the  evolution  of 
animal  societies  is  the  increase  of  the  instincts  of  pugnacity  which 
are  developed  hand  in  hand  with  instincts  for  mutual  support  and 


THE  SELECTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  WAR  215 

cooperation.  We  need  only  to  compare  the  behavior  of  ants, 
termites,  and  the  social  bees  and  wasps  with  the  activities  of  the 
unsocial  relatives  of  these  insects  to  be  impressed  with  this  fact. 
Man  cannot  be  compared  with  these  insects  in  regard  to  the  ex- 
tent to  which  the  purely  social  instincts  have  been  developed;  he 
is  still  very  much  of  a  self-centered,  individualistic  sort  of  crea- 
ture. How  many  ages  of  bloody  conflict  it  has  taken  to  endow  hu- 
man beings  with  their  present  rather  imperfect  adaptation  to  so- 
cial life  we  can  only  estimate  in  a  very  approximate  way.  The 
teachings  of  history,  the  observations  of  the  present  customs  of 
primitive  races  and  what  little  information  can  be  gleaned  of  the 
civilization  of  early  human  inhabitants  of  the  earth  indicate  that 
human  beings  have  evolved  under  the  stress  of  keen  competition, 
not  only  with  the  forces  of  nature,  but  at  more  or  less  frequent 
intervals  with  other  members  of  their  own  species.  As  Huxley 
has  remarked,  "However  imperfect  the  reHcs  of  prehistoric  man 
may  be,  the  evidence  which  they  afford  clearly  tends  to  the 
conclusion  that,  for  thousands  and  thousands  of  years,  before  the 
origin  of  the  oldest  known  civilizations,  men  were  savages  of  a 
very  low  type.  They  strove  with  their  enemies  and  their  competi- 
tors; they  preyed  upon  things  weaker  or  less  cunning  than  them- 
selves; they  were  born,  multiplied  without  stint,  and  died,  for 
thousands  of  generations,  alongside  the  mammoth,  the  urus,  the 
lion,  and  the  hyaena,  whose  Hves  were  spent  in  the  same  way; 
and  they  were  no  more  to  be  praised  or  blamed,  on  moral  grounds, 
than  their  less  erect  and  more  hairy  compatriots." 

If  warfare  had  been  dysgenic  in  its  effects  durmg  the  early 
periods  of  human  development  we  may  well  wonder  how  the  race 
should  ever  have  arrived  at  its  present  high  estate.  But  as 
civilization  advances,  and  as  human  beings  become  organized 
into  larger  and  larger  social  groups  the  character  of  warfare 
gradually  changes.  With  the  development  of  armies  which  carry 
on  their  operations  often  at  a  distance  from  the  civilian  popula- 
tion, and  especially  since  the  perfection  of  fire  arms,  the  advan- 
tages in  favor  of  the  strongest  and  most  skillful  warrior  were 
decreased.     Wars  of  extermination  which  arc  not  uncommon 


2i6  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

among  barbarous  tribes  and  which  were  carried  on  by  peoples  of 
the  cultural  level  of  the  Children  of  Israel  and  occasionally  by 
those  more  advanced  may  have  had  a  eugenic  effect.  Leading  as 
they  did  to  the  supplanting  of  the  conquered  by  their  conquerors 
their  general  result  must  have  been  a  gradual  replacement  of  less 
efficient  by  more  efficient  peoples.  But  in  modern  warfare  the 
vanquished  are  not  exterminated.  They  are  usually  not  dispos- 
sessed of  their  territory  and  after  peace  is  declared  they  may 
multiply  more  rapidly  than  their  conquerors.  Our  own  Civil 
War  certainly  led  to  no  desirable  results  from  the  viewpoint  of 
group  selection.  Both  sides  lost  much  of  their  best  blood,  and  it 
cannot  be  said  that  either  side  was  the  superior  of  the  other  in 
hereditary  qualities.  Between  wars  such  as  this  and  the  en- 
counters of  groups  of  primitive  man  there  may  be  very  varied 
kinds  of  biological  effect  depending  on  the  varied  methods  of 
waging  war,  the  character  of  the  contestants  and  the  nature  of  the 
final  settlement  of  the  conflict.  Wars  between  the  higher  and 
lower  races,  such  for  instance  as  those  which  led  to  the  replace- 
ment of  the  aborigines  by  the  Anglo-Saxon  are  doubtless  produc- 
tive of  racial  advance.  The  great  extension  of  this  enterprising 
people  owes  much  to  a  series  of  successful  wars  against  the  less 
favored  peoples  who  were  found  to  be  in  the  way.  It  cannot  be 
denied  that  wars  between  subdivisions  of  the  white  race  may  have 
resulted  in  racial  improvement,  but  it  would  be  unsafe  to  claim 
this  for  most  of  them.  Theoretically  it  is  easy  to  justify  war 
among  modern  peoples  by  saying  that  it  is  the  best  endowed 
group  which  is  most  apt  to  prevail,  and  therefore  the  best  condi- 
tion for  racial  advancement  is  afforded  by  giving  free  play  to 
group  selection.  This  is  the  favorite  standpoint  of  those  who 
would  justify  war  on  biological  grounds.  As  Steinmetz  has 
pointed  out  in  his  able  Philosophie  des  Krieges,  modern  wars, 
while  they  do  not  directly  lead  to  extermination  may  leave  a 
people  so  crippled,  devoid  of  energy,  spirit  and  enterprise  that  its 
life  tends  to  stagnate  and  its  population  eventually  decreases. 
Headley  remarks  in  his  Problems  of  Evolution  "Though  it  can 
never  happen  that  any  of    the  European  nations,  even  in  the 


THE  SELECTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  WAR  217 

event  of  a  great  war  ending  in  the  complete  victory  of  one  side, 
will  disappear  in  the  sense  that  it  will  have  no  descendants,  yet 
the  number  of  its  descendants  depends  very  largely  on  wars  and 
menaces  of  war.  The  country  that  secures  the  best  of  the  earth 
will  send  out  more  colonists  than  the  country  that  has  to  send  its 
sons  to  live  among  foreigners  and  speak  a  strange  language." 

Results  such  as  are  here  described  have  probably  been  produced 
in  a  few  cases,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  many  of  the  wars  that  have 
been  waged  in  modern  Europe  have  worked  out  in  this  way.  So 
far  as  any  racial  effects  are  evident  it  is  not  improbable  that  most 
European  wars  have  been  injurious  to  all  parties  concerned. 
However  defeat  may  have  influenced  national  spirit  it  does  not 
seem  to  have  produced  a  very  obvious  effect  on  the  birth  rate. 
The  successive  defeats  sustained  by  Austria  in  the  19th  century 
have  not  hindered  the  rapid  growth  of  her  population.  A  victo- 
rious career  does  not  affect  so  much  the  growth  of  a  people  as  the 
expansion  of  a  nation,  which  is  generally  a  very  different  thing. 

National  boundaries  are  of  interest  to  the  politician  and 
historian,  but  to  the  student  of  racial  biology  they  are  mainly 
a  source  of  confusion.  Poland  was  obliterated  as  a  nation,  but, 
despite  a  considerable  amount  of  mistreatment,  the  Poles  have 
continued  to  multiply  at  a  rate  that  has  given  their  conquerors 
a  certain  amount  of  uneasiness.  It  is  not  to  be  inferred,  however, 
that  it  is  a  matter  of  indifference  from  the  biological  standpoint 
whether  people  do  or  do  not  constitute  a  nation.  Moreover  in 
Europe  at  present  the  divisions  of  ethnic  stocks  are  so  crossed  by 
national  boundaries  that  strife  between  peoples  would  throw  most 
countries  into  a  many-sided  civil  war. 

The  studies  of  the  actual  effects  of  war  from  the  viewpoint 
of  group  selection  is  an  almost  untouched  field.  The  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  adjudging  the  biological  value  of  the  wars  that  have 
occurred  between  civilized  states  are  many  and  formidable.  We 
know  little  of  the  differences  in  innate  mental  ability,  as  distin- 
guished from  cultural  development,  that  exist  between  the  racial 
elements  of  civilized  countries.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that 
the  more  conspicuous  temperamental  traits  that  distinguish  the 


2i8  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

Teutonic  and  Slavic  from  the  Latin  races  are  hereditary  racial 
characteristics,  although  they  may  be  modified  to  a  certain  degree 
by  social  environment.  It  may  be  maintained  that  conflicts  will 
still  be  more  apt  to  be  won  by  nations  of  the  highest  endowment 
of  intellect,  and  which  by  nature  are  best  endowed  with  the 
instincts  which  make  for  loyalty  and  cooperation.  But  granting 
that  this  tendency  exists,  there  are  so  many  factors  that  modify 
its  influence  that  its  actual  biological  effect  is  much  in  doubt. 

In  the  first  place  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  mere  size  is  not 
infrequently  the  determining  cause  of  victory  quite  regardless 
of  the  quality  of  the  combatants.  Fortunate  alliances  may  bring 
success  to  an  otherwise  weak  country.  Geographical  location 
often  proves  to  be  of  importance  in  both  offensive  and  defensive 
warfare.  But  of  especial  significance  is  a  nation's  cultural  devel- 
opment which  depends  upon  its  past  history  and  surroundings 
perhaps  even  more  than  the  natural  aptitudes  of  its  people. 

The  Teutonic  tribes  fled  before  the  well-drilled  and  equipped 
armies  of  the  Romans,  not  because  they  were  inferior  either  in 
mental  or  physical  inheritance,  but  because  they  had  lived  outside 
of  the  main  stream  of  European  civilization,  and  when  we  observe 
the  Serbians  and  Russians  unable  to  cope  with  the  well-organized 
and  disciplined  armies  of  Germany  there  is  little  ground  for 
attributing  the  outcome  to  the  innate  superiority  of  the  victors. 
The  immediate  causes  of  success  were  superior  discipline,  organi- 
zation, equipment  and  the  elaborate,  scientific  and  detailed  prep- 
aration for  a  long  premeditated  contingency.  While  we  may 
admit  that  on  the  average  and  in  the  long  run  the  success  of  a 
nation  may  be  the  result  of  superior  hereditary  endowments,  it  is 
probable  that,  as  Schallmayer,  Steinmetz  and  others  have  pointed 
out,  the  role  of  hereditary  differences  becomes  less  as  civilization 
advances. 

Granting  that  war  is  most  apt  to  be  won  by  the  best  stocks, 
its  biological  value  depends  upon  the  advantage  that  is  taken  of 
the  victory.  If  winning  a  war  does  not  lead  to  a  greater  expansion 
of  the  victorious  people  its  racial  value  is  nullified.  As  a  result  of 
warfare  in  recent  times  nations  frequently  lose  territory,  pay 


THE  SELECTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  WAR  219 

indemnities  and  suffer  economic  restrictions,  but  the  people  are 
left  free  to  multiply  and  they  frequently  increase  more  rapidly 
than  those  of  the  victorious  nation.  The  biologically  defensible 
wars  are  wars  of  extermination,  such  as  those  carried  on  by  the 
Dyaks  and  the  Israelites.  Wars  for  political  purposes,  and  eco- 
nomic advantage,  especially  when  they  do  not  lead  to  the  acquire- 
ment of  new  colonial  regions  in  which  to  expand,  often  have 
little  apparent  effect  on  the  biological  fortunes  of  either  party. 
The  biological  victory,  such  as  it  is,  may  often  belong  to  the  side 
which  loses  in  battle.  In  future  wars  the  successful  nations  may 
see  to  it  that  such  a  result  will  not  follow.  It  would  only  be  the 
part  of  consistency  for  those  who  justify  war  on  the  grounds  of 
biological  necessity  to  strive  to  convert  future  conflicts  into  wars 
of  extermination.  We  have  seen  a  tolerably  close  approximation 
to  such  a  policy  put  into  practice  in  the  present  great  war.  The 
widespread  advocacy  in  Germany  of  the  expropriation  of  the  land 
of  conquered  nations,  its  settlement  by  Germans  in  order  to  in- 
crease the  population  and  strength  of  the  empire,  and  the  banish- 
ment of  the  previous  inhabitants  or  their  reduction  to  hewers  of 
wood  and  drawers  of  water  should  they  prove  sufficiently  amen- 
able, reveals  a  grim  determination  to  use  victory  to  the  utmost  for 
attaining  the  desired  end.  Professor  H.  G.  Holle  {Polit.-Anlhrop. 
Monatschr.,  14,  1915)  advises  his  countrymen:  "If  the  national 
will  to  live,  which  has  so  gloriously  manifested  itself  in  the  war, 
shall  not  yield  to  a  culpable  renunciation  we  must  annex  foreign 
dominions  to  the  east  and  the  west.  ...  If  we  really  come  to 
make  such  dominions  our  own  then  such  inhabitants,  who  on 
account  of  their  race  or  characteristics  are  not  adapted  to  us  and 
upon  whose  gradual  Germanization  we  cannot  rely  must  be 
banished  and  their  settlement  must  be  imposed  upon  our  oppo- 
nents as  a  condition  of  peace.  If  we  then  credit  the  freed  land, 
which  is  more  valuable  to  us  than  gold,  against  the  war  indemnity 
thinly  populated  France  would  willingly  accept  this  condition  and 
gladly  take  over  any  of  the  Walloons  who  desired  to  be  French. 
Also  in  regard  to  the  Polish  inhabitants  of  our  present  eastern 
boundary  so  far  as  they  do  not  wish  to  remain  German,  the 


220  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

opportunity  presents  itself  of  offering  them  a  double  area  in  the 
'Kingdom'  of  Poland."  And  the  author  quotes  with  approval  a 
statement  of  Sontag  {Archiv  fur  innere  Kolonization,  7,  H.  5) 
"If  the  German  empire  needs  new  land  adapted  for  settlement 
in  order  not  to  let  its  people  stifle  for  want  of  room  and  in  order 
greatly  to  increase  the  strength  of  its  rural  population,  then 
indeed  must  we  take  this  land  if  a  war  which  we  are  compelled  to 
enter  upon  offers  us  the  opportunity.  But — and  this  must  be  the 
foremost  consideration  in  the  matter — new  land  must  be  made 
free  from  a  population  which  would  detract  from  our  national 
and  poHtical  character,  and  which  would  only  add  new  trouble  to 
the  difficulties  already  present  in  our  eastern  and  western  boun- 
daries, and  above  all  also  the  danger  of  a  racial  deterioration  of 
the  mass  of  our  own  people." 

Victory,  according  to  Holle  and  Sontag,  must  not  be  allowed 
to  become  sterile  from  the  viewpoint  of  extending  the  race  of  the 
conquerors.  The  much  fostered  persuasion  of  racial  superiority 
which  appeals  so  powerfully  to  the  German  mind  would  have  had 
in  the  event  of  victory  no  small  share  in  determining  the  policy  of 
the  Germans  in  dealing  with  the  peoples  over  whom  they  were 
victors.  Other  peoples  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  having  rights  to 
be  respected,  but  as  so  much  human  material  of  an  inferior  sort 
who,  in  the  interests  of  biological  evolution,  should  be  supplanted 
by  the  superior  blood  of  the  Teutonic  race.  "A  nation,"  says 
Klaus  Wagner,  "even  when  her  national  and  fundamental  inter- 
ests do  not  coincide  with  those  of  another  nation,  still  must  rudely 
destroy  this  people's  highest  interests,  must  indeed  remorselessly 
cut  off  from  this  foreign  people  the  means  of  living  for  the  future. 
It  is  a  great  powerful  nation  which  overturns  a  less  courageous 
and  degenerate  people  and  takes  its  territory  from  it.  .  .  .  The 
great  nation  needs  new  territory.  Therefore  it  must  spread  out 
over  foreign  soil,  and  must  displace  strangers  with  the  power  of 
the  sword." 

We  have  lived  past  the  day  when  war  is  waged  as  "a  grand 
pastime." 


THE  SELECTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  WAR  221 

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Nicolai,  G.  F.    The  Biology  of  War.    Century  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1918. 
Novicow,  J.     Les  Luttes  entre  Societes  Humaines  et  leurs  Phases  successives, 

Paris,  1893  (2d  ed.  1896);  La  Critique  du  Darwinisme  Social.    Alcan,  Paris, 

1910;  War  and  its  Alleged  Benefits.    Holt,  N.  Y.,  191 1  (Translation  of   La 

Guerre  et  ses  Pretendus  Bienfaits,  A.  Colin.    Paris,  1894). 
Pearl,  R.    Biology  and  War.    Jour.  Wash.  Ac.  Sci.  8,  341-360,  1918. 
Prinzing,  F.    Epidemics  Resulting  from  Wars.    Clarendon  Press,  Oxford,  1916. 
Ritter,  W.  E.    War,  Science  and  Civilization.    Sherman,  French  and  Co.,  Boston, 

1915- 
Roosevelt,  T.    Twisted  Eugenics.    Outlook,  106,  30,  1914. 
Rott,  Dr.  F.     Die  Einwirkung  des  Krieges  auf  die  Sauglingssterbliclikeit  und  die 

Sauglingsschutzbewegung.    G.  Stilke,  Berlin,  1915. 
Savorgnan,  F.    La  Guerra  e  la  Populazione.    Bologna,  19 18. 
Schalhnayer,  W.    Der  Krieg  als  Zuchter.    Arch.  Rass.  Ges.  Biol.  5,  364-400,  1908. 
Steinmetz,  S.  R.    Die  Philosophie  des  Krieges.    Leipzig,  1907. 
Thacker,  A.  G.    Some  Eugenic  Aspects  of  War.    Sci.  Prog.  10,  73-80,  1915. 
Thomson,  J.  A.    Eugenics  and  the  War.    Eugen.  Rev.  7,  1-14,  1915.    Also  Brit. 

Med.  Jour.  1915,  i,  345;  and  West.  Canada  M.  J.  Winnipeg,  9,  260-274,  1915. 
Wagner,  Klaus.    Krieg,  Jena,  1906. 
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CHAPTER  X 

SEXUAL  SELECTION,  ASSORTATIVE  MATING  AND 
THE  DIFFERENTIAL  MARRIAGE  RATE 

"She's  that  sort,"  declared  my  Emma.  "When  you  get  them  slim 
maidens,  so  quick-eared  and  quick-eyed  as  a  mouse,  with  full  lips 
that  move  and  twinkle  to  their  thoughts,  and  pretty,  sly,  sleepy  eyes, 
same  as  Phillipa  have  got,  then  you  can  take  it  that  men  interest  'em 
more  than  any  created  thing.  And  they  interest  men,  because  nothin's 
so  lightning  quick  as  a  man  to  answer  that  sort  of  a  signal."  Eden 
Phillpotts,  Chronicles  of  St.  Tid. 

As  is  well  known  Mr.  Darwin  attempted  to  explain  the  develop- 
ment of  many  of  the  secondary  sexual  characters  which  distin- 
guish the  males  from  the  females  of  higher  animals  as  the  result  of 
the  action  of  sexual  selection.  This  term  was  used  by  Darwin  to 
describe  two  very  different  kinds  of  selective  activity;  in  one  the 
outcome  was  based  upon  the  "law  of  battle"  or  the  struggle 
between  rival  males,  the  female  falling  as  a  matter  of  course  to  the 
lot  of  the  victor;  in  the  other  mode  of  selection,  the  female  is 
supposed  to  choose  from  among  rival  suitors  the  one  whose 
charms  make  the  strongest  appeal.  The  law  of  battle  is  essen- 
tially a  form  of  natural  selection,  although  it  does  not  as  a  rule 
result  in  the  actual  death  of  the  unsuccessful  contestant.  It  offers 
a  very  plausible  explanation  of  the  development  of  horns,  tusks, 
greater  strength  and  various  offensive  and  defensive  features  that 
characterize  the  male  sex  of  many  animals.  These  endowments 
are  directly  useful  in  keeping  the  stock  of  their  possessors,  if  not 
their  possessors  themselves,  from  extinction,  and  their  develop- 
ment would  naturally  be  favored  by  selection.  But  with  sexual 
selection  of  the  other  type  in  which  female  volition  forms  an 
essential  element,  the  outcome  is  usually  the  development  of 
characteristics  that  charm  the  senses  instead  of  directly  aiding 

222 


SEXUAL  SELECTION,  ASSORTATIVE  MATING,  ETC.     223 

the  male  in  meeting  the  hazards  of  battle.  The  brilliant  plumage 
of  male  birds,  their  powers  of  song  and  their  instincts  for  display- 
ing their  charms  during  courtship  would  probably  long  ago  have 
been  eliminated  by  natural  selection  had  it  not  been  for  their 
appeal  to  the  aesthetic  appreciation  of  the  females. 

It  is  the  part  of  Darwin's  theory  of  sexual  selection  which 
implies  the  potency  of  female  choice  which  has  incurred  the 
greatest  amount  of  adverse  criticism.  It  is  undeniable  that  in 
man,  who  is  the  only  creature  we  are  directly  concerned  with  at 
present,  female  selection  is  capable  of  operating  much  as  Darwin 
supposed  it  to  act  among  less  highly  developed  animals.  How  far 
this  fact  suffices  to  account  for  the  differences  in  the  appear- 
ance of  the  two  sexes  is  a  difficult  problem.  Some  of  these,  such 
as  the  greater  size  and  strength  of  man,  his  broader  shoulders  and 
the  greater  development  of  his  pugnacious  instincts  may  be  in 
part  the  result  of  the  "law  of  battle "  during  the  early  stages  of  his 
evolution,  though  they  may  be  in  part  also  the  outcome  of  strug- 
gles which  had  no  direct  relation  to  mating.  That  sexual  selection 
in  the  sense  of  preferential  mating  has  played  any  important 
part  in  producing  the  relatively  hairless  condition  of  the  human 
body  or  the  development  of  beards  in  the  male  sex  is  open  to  grave 
doubt.  In  fact,  it  would  be  hazardous  to  assert  that  any  particu- 
lar feature  of  either  sex  owes  its  existence  wholly  or  even  mainly 
to  sexual  selection.  Nevertheless  this  factor  can  scarcely  fail  to 
have  exerted  some  influence  on  racial  development  at  all  periods 
of  human  history.  It  is  perhaps  safe  to  say  that  unattractive 
women  have  always  been  at  a  discount,  and  that,  notwithstanding 
their  subordinate  position  among  primitive  peoples,  women  have 
in  one  way  or  another  exercised  a  certain  degree  of  choice  in  the 
selection  of  their  mates.  Undoubtedly  the  rigidity  of  tribal 
custom  has  greatly  restricted  the  operation  of  sexual  selection  by 
women,  and  m  many  cases  practically  eliminated  it  altogether. 
Darwin,  however,  cites  many  illustrations  of  the  fact  that  "with 
savages  the  women  are  not  in  quite  so  abject  a  state  in  relation  to 
marriage  as  has  often  been  supposed.  They  can  tempt  the  men 
whom  they  prefer,  and  can  sometimes  reject  those  whom  they 


224  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

dislike,  either  before  or  after  marriage.  Preference  on  the  part  of 
the  women,  steadily  acting  in  any  one  direction,  would  ultimately 
affect  the  character  of  the  tribe;  for  the  women  would  generally 
choose  not  merely  the  handsomest  men,  but  those  who  were  at 
the  same  time  best  able  to  defend  and  support  them.  Such  well- 
endowed  pairs  would  commonly  rear  a  larger  number  of  offspring 
than  the  less  favored.  The  same  result  would  obviously  follow  in 
a  still  more  marked  manner  if  there  was  selection  on  both  sides, 
that  is,  if  the  more  attractive  and  powerful  men  were  to  prefer 
and  were  preferred  by  the  more  attractive  women.  And  this 
double  form  of  selection  seems  actually  to  have  occurred,  es- 
pecially during  the  earlier  periods  of  our  long  history." 

Further  evidence  in  the  same  direction  is  adduced  by  Wester- 
marck  who  cites  many  illustrations  that  support  his  contention. 
''It  would  be  a  mistake,"  this  author  observes,  "to  suppose  that, 
among  the  lower  races,  women  are,  as  a  rule,  married  without 
having  any  voice  of  their  own  in  the  matter.  Their  liberty  of 
selection,  on  the  contrary,  is  very  considerable,  and,  however 
down-trodden,  they  well  know  how  to  make  their  influence  felt" 
{History  of  Human  Marriage,  p.  212).  Howard  {History  of  Matri- 
monial Institutions,  I,  216)  states  that  "The  facts  appear  to 
demonstrate  that  woman's  original  liberty  of  selection  has  never 
been  entirely  lost.  It  is  evident  that  wife-purchase,  though 
sometimes  the  means  of  degradation,  even  of  marital  bondage,  is 
compatible  with  a  high  degree  of  matrimonial  choice." 

The  evidence  adduced  by  Darwin  and  Westermarck  has  been 
criticised  by  Finck  who  attempts  to  show  that  female  choice  has 
been  so  restricted  by  most  uncivilized  peoples  that  its  influence 
is  practically  a  negligible  factor.  It  is  true  that  with  child  be- 
trothals, marriage  by  purchase,  or  capture,  the  force  of  parental 
authority,  and  the  influence  of  custom,  taboos,  etc.,  woman  is 
commonly  disposed  of  with  as  little  regard  to  her  incHnations 
as  if  she  were  a  cow  or  a  sheep.  Several  recent  studies  of  primitive 
peoples,  however,  have  yielded  considerable  evidence  that  sup- 
ports the  conclusions  of  Darwin  and  Westermarck.  If  there  has 
been  a  rather  extensive  period  of  our  history  in  which  female 


SEXUAL  SELECTION,  ASSORTATIVE  MATING,  ETC.     225 

choice  has  been  very  greatly  repressed  this  represents  but  a 
temporary  phase  of  human  evolution  which  was  probably  pre- 
ceded, as  we  know  it  has  been  followed,  by  a  period  in  which  the 
female  sex  was  allowed  a  greater  freedom  in  the  selection  of  mates. 

The  general  effect  of  sexual  selection  among  savages  and  semi- 
civilized  peoples  was,  on  the  whole,  probably  eugenic;  the  men 
remaining  unmated  were  apt  to  be  the  more  unattractive  or  less 
valorous  and  enterprising  members  of  the  tribe,  and  the  types 
that  met  with  tribal  approval,  especially  the  successful  warriors, 
often  enjoyed  especial  facilities  for  transmitting  their  character- 
istics. While  primitive  women,  like  their  more  civilized  sisters, 
were  attracted  by  males  who  appealed  to  them  as  possessing 
beauty,  they  were  probably  more  influenced  by  those  qualities  of 
strength  and  courage  which  led  to  supremacy  in  the  "law  of 
battle."  The  Indian  maiden  in  a  song  quoted  by  Mr.  Schoolcraft 
represents  her  lover  as  "tall  and  graceful  as  the  young  pine  wav- 
ing on  the  hill, — and  as  swift  in  his  course  as  the  noble  stately 
deer.  His  hair  is  flowing  and  dark  as  the  blackbird  that  floats 
through  the  air — And  his  eyes,  like  the  eagle's,  both  piercing  and 
bright— His  heart  it  is  fearless  and  great.— And  his  arm  it  is 
strong  in  the  fight."  In  some  tribes  a  man  can  win  a  wife  only 
after  making  successful  trials  of  strength  and  skill.  "When  a 
Dyak  wants  to  marry,"  says  Mr.  Bock,  "he  must  show  himself  a 
hero  before  he  can  gain  favor  with  his  intended."  And  this  is 
commonly  done  by  obtaining  a  number  of  heads  from  the  mem- 
bers of  a  hostile  tribe. 

This  predilection  for  strong  and  heroic  men  has  long  been  a 
force  making  for  the  improvement  of  the  race.  It  is  not  un- 
common for  a  woman  with  or  without  her  consent  to  be  awarded 
as  a  prize  to  the  males  who  are  victors  in  the  contest  for  her 
possession.  "Sometimes,"  says  Howard,  "a  fist-fight,  a  battle 
with  clubs,  a  duel  with  bows  and  arrows  or  a  pulling-match  settles 
the  claims  of  rival  suitors;  and  often,  as  among  the  North  Ameri- 
can aborigines,  the  contest  takes  the  form  of  wrestling  for  wives" 
(1.  c,  p.  203).  It  is  a  prevalent  custom  for  chiefs  who  are  apt  to  be 
men  of  uncommonly  forcible  type,  to  have  several  wives,  and 


226  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

consequently  many  children.  Where  polygamy  is  permitted, — 
and  it  is  a  widely  prevalent  institution, — plural  wives  in  general 
are  apt  to  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  more  enterprising  and  successful 
men. 

Among  primitive  and  semi-civilized  peoples  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that,  both  as  a  result  of  the  law  of  battle  and  the 
exercise  of  female  choice,  the  stronger  and  more  virile  men  were, 
on  the  whole,  more  apt  to  transmit  their  qualities  than  under 
our  present  civilized  regime.  Progress  inevitably  introduces  many 
changes  in  the  way  in  which  sexual  selection  operates.  In  at- 
tempting to  estimate  how  sexual  selection  has  been  affected  by 
our  modern  civilization  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  we  have 
to  reckon  with  various  tendencies  which  may  work  to  produce 
opposed,  or  at  least  different  results.  As  common  observation 
shows,  chances  for  marriage  are  considerably  reduced  among  the 
conspicuously  ugly.  Those  with  morose  and  unsocial  dispositions 
are  not  so  apt  to  attract  mates  as  the  cheerful  and  vivacious.  The 
sexually  attractive  have  an  advantage  over  the  sexually  unattrac- 
tive. Vitality,  both  in  predisposing  to  marriage  and  in  rendering 
its  possessors  more  acceptable  to  the  other  sex,  is  a  quality  dis- 
tinctly favored  by  sexual  as  well  as  by  natural  selection.  Al- 
though in  marriage  there  is  fortunately  a  wide  variation  in  mat- 
ters of  taste,  there  is  nevertheless  a  broad  basis  of  agreement  upon 
the  peculiarities  of  the  opposite  sex  that  are  most  alluring.  Quali- 
ties that  make  a  peculiar  appeal  to  the  other  sex  are  those  which 
in  general  are  the  index  of  characteristics  of  racial  value.  As 
Havelock  ElHs  remarks  "in  most  countries  an  important  and 
essential  element  of  beauty  lies  in  the  emphasis  of  the  secondary 
and  tertiary  sexual  characters;  the  special  character  of  the  hair 
in  woman,  her  breasts,  her  lips,  and  innumerable  other  qualiries 
of  minor  saliency,  but  all  apt  to  be  of  significance  from  the  point 
of  view  of  sexual  selection."  The  instinctive  proclivity  of  man  to 
select  characteristics  which  are  the  outward  and  visible  signs  of 
qualities  of  importance  in  the  perpetuation  of  the  species  has 
doubtless  long  been  a  factor  of  importance  in  racial  evolution  and 
will  continue  to  be  so  long  as  human  nature  remains  as  it  is. 


SEXUAL  SELECTION,  ASSORTATIVE  MATING,  ETC.     227 

The  qualities  which  are  prized  in  mates,  and  which,  therefore, 
tend  to  be  developed  by  sexual  selection,  may  be  ascertained 
without  much  difficulty  by  collecting  statements  of  preferences 
from  a  sufficiently  large  number  of  people  to  give  a  representative 
expression  of  prevalent  taste.  The  magazine,  Physical  Culture, 
has  collected  expressions  of  opinion  from  its  women  readers  as 
to  the  qualities  desired  in  an  ideal  husband.  The  first  requisite 
was  health;  financial  success,  paternity,  appearance,  disposition, 
education,  character,  housekeeping  and  dress  followed  in  the 
order  named.  The  results  of  a  similar  inquiry  addressed  to  its 
male  readers  regarding  the  qualities  desired  in  an  ideal  wife  may 
be  tabulated  as  follows: 

Requirements  of  an  Ideal  Wife  According  to  Male  Readers  of  Physical 

Culture 

Qualities  Per  cent 

Health 23 

Looks 14 

Housekeeping 12 

Disposition 11 

Maternity 11 

Education 10 

Management 7 

Dress 7 

Character 5 

The  classification  of  qualities  was  somewhat  unfortunate 
and  probably  accounts  for  the  small  value  apparently  placed  on 
character.  A  statement  of  the  matrimonial  requirements  of  115 
young  women  of  the  Brigham  Young  College,  a  Mormon  institu- 
tion of  Utah,  showed  that  86  per  cent  demanded  that  the  pros- 
pective husband  must  be  morally  pure;  99  per  cent  required  that 
he  be  mentally  and  physically  strong,  52  per  cent  that  he  be  of 
the  same  religion  as  themselves,  45  per  cent  that  he  must  be 
taller  than  they,  and  93  per  cent  that  he  must  not  smoke,  chew  or 
drink,  thereby  voicing  a  pronounced  difference  of  opinion  from 
that  of  Robert  Louis  Stevenson  who  declared  that  "no  woman 


228         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

should  marry  a  teetotaler,  or  a  man  who  does  not  smoke."  The 
judgments  of  these  young  ladies  are  interesting  as  indicating  how- 
far  ideals  of  manhood  may  be  moulded  by  instruction  and  afford 
ground  for  hope  that  much  may  be  accomplished  in  the  direction 
of  eugenic  improvement  by  inculcating  the  proper  standards 
in  the  minds  of  the  young. 

The  potency  of  the  appreciation  of  beauty  and  ability  in  the 
choice  of  mates  is  indicated  by  the  study  of  Miss  C.  F.  Gilmore  on 
the  marriages  of  the  graduates  of  the  Southwestern  State  Normal 
School  of  Pennsylvania.  The  girls  were  graded  for  beauty  by 
impartial  observers  on  the  scale  of  loo.  Those  of  grade  80  and 
over  had  the  highest  marriage  rate,  while  among  the  others  the 
marriage  rate  in  general  declined  in  proportion  as  the  grade  for 
beauty  was  low.  In  the  same  school  the  girls  of  higher  standing 
were  most  chosen.  There  was  a  slight  tendency  for  the  marriage 
rate  to  decrease  with  lower  scholastic  standing,  although  the  girls 
graded  between  60  and  70  were  married  some  what  more  rapidly 
than  the  class  between  70  and  80.  How  far  these  results  find  a 
parallel  elsewhere  we  have  too  little  data  to  ascertain.  It  is, 
a  priori,  probable  and  in  accord  with  common  observation  that 
the  most  beautiful  girls  are  apt  to  be  chosen  as  wives.  Intellect  in 
women  may  be  preferred  in  general,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  many  men  set  little  store  by  this  quality  in  the  other  sex,  and 
may  even  prefer  an  amiable  sort  of  stupidity  in  their  wives  so 
that  they  can  enjoy  a  sense  of  their  own  mental  superiority. 
But  quite  aside  from  the  attractiveness  of  intellect  there  is  a 
tendency  for  the  more  intellectual  women  to  choose  a  celibate 
career  for  various  reasons  that  have  been  mentioned  elsewhere. 
Intellect  influences  marriage  selection  in  two  diverse  ways;  first, 
by  rendering  the  prospective  partners  more  attractive,  and 
second,  by  making  its  possessors  more  independent  and  particular 
in  the  choice  of  a  mate,  or,  through  affording  other  interests, 
diminishing  the  inclination  toward  married  life.  Intellect  in  men 
tends  to  be  selected  by  women,  and  intellectual  men  are  not  as 
a  class  markedly  indisposed  to  marry.  However,  they  tend 
to  marry  relatively  late   in   Ufe,  and  the  effect   of   this   on 


SEXUAL  SELECTION,  ASSORTATIVE  MATING,  ETC.     229 

the  race  is  the  same  as  if  they  were  chosen  with  relative 
infrequency. 

Sexual  selection  in  the  strict  Darwinian  sense  has  been  distin- 
guished by  Pearson  from  another  form  of  selection  which  is 
termed  assortative  mating.  The  former  he  designates  as  prefer- 
ential mating.  "If  we  wish  to  discuss,"  he  says,  "whether 
preferential  mating  with  regard  to  any  organ  or  character  is 
taking  place  in  a  given  form  of  life,  we  must  investigate  whether 
the  type  and  variability  of  the  mated  and  unmated  members  of 
one  or  the  other  sex  are  the  same.  If  they  are  not,  then  sexual 
selection  in  the  form  of  preferential  mating  is  undoubtedly  at 
work."  Pearson  has  shown  us  from  data  collected  by  Francis 
Galton  that  light-eyed  people  marry  more  frequently  than  dark- 
eyed.  There  is  thus  a  preferential  mating  in  man.  "Whether  the 
preference  arises  from  greater  sex  instincts  or  from  the  aesthetic 
sense  is  immaterial  from  the  standpoint  of  evolution,  however 
interesting  from  the  moral  or  social  standpoint." 

Assortative  mating  is  the  union  of  like  with  like.  It  may  occur 
where  the  mated  and  the  unmated  do  not  differ  in  the  average 
development  of  any  characteristic,  or  where  all  the  individuals 
become  mated.  The  few  studies  of  assortative  mating  in  man 
have  shown,  contrary  to  popular  impression,  that  there  is  a 
tendency  of  persons  of  like  characteristics  to  msLvry.  Fol  by  a 
study  of  251  photographs  of  young  and  old  married  couples 
concluded  that  in  the  majority  of  cases  (66.7  per  cent  in  the 
young  and  71.7  per  cent  in  the  old)  the  parties  were  similar 
instead  of  dissimilar.  Galton's  early  studies  {Natural  Inheritance) 
failed  to  show  that  people  were  much  influenced  in  marriage  by 
similarities  in  stature,  temper  and  artistic  tastes.  The  mating  of 
couples  with  similar  eye  color  was  somewhat  more  frequent  than 
would  be  produced  through  mere  chance  unions.  In  his  later 
studies  of  the  parents  of  English  men  of  science  Galton  showed 
that  in  temperament  and  color  of  eyes  and  hair  the  parents 
showed  a  notable  similarity.  From  more  extensive  data  Pearson 
has  shown  that  light-eyed  men  tend  to  marry  light-eyed  women 
more  than  dark-eyed,  and  that  dark-eyed  men  tend  to  marry 


230  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

dark-eyed  women  more  than  light-eyed.  In  stature  the  tendency 
to  assortative  mating  was  marked;  the  tall  tend  to  marry  with 
tall,  the  short  with  short,  and  the  intermediate  with  intermediate. 
H.  Ellis  has  added  confirmatory  evidence  of  assortative  mating  of 
people  of  similar  stature.  He  found  that  people  tend  to  marry 
those  similar  to  themselves  in  complexion,  although  the  number  of 
cases  considered  was  too  small  to  base  a  positive  conclusion  upon. 
There  is  evidence  that  the  tuberculous  tend  to  marry  the  tubercu- 
lous, due  in  part  probably  to  the  influences  that  bring  them  to- 
gether in  the  same  localities,  and  in  part  to  a  natural  sympathy 
which  draws  them  together,  and  also  to  the  fact  that  they  are  less 
liable  to  be  chosen  by  normal  and  healthy  persons.  That  the 
deaf  tend  to  marry  the  deaf,  as  has  been  shown  by  Fay  and  Bell, 
is  due  largely  to  the  segregation  of  these  people  in  institutions, 
although  the  two  other  causes  we  have  just  mentioned  may  also 
be  influential  upon  those  who  remain  scattered  among  the  general 
population. 

One  of  the  most  unfortunate  kinds  of  assortative  mating  in 
man,  as  has  been  pointed  out  in  a  previous  chapter,  is  the  unusual 
frequency  of  marriages  among  the  feeble-minded  and  degenerate. 
The  unattractive  physical  and  temperamental  qualities  which 
would  be  a  bar  to  mating  among  people  of  higher  grade  are  not  so 
potent  a  deterrent  to  matrimony  or  at  least  to  a  union  of  the  sexes 
among  inferior  stocks.  What  data  have  been  collected  on  the 
proportion  of  married  people  of  marriageable  age  among  the 
Jukes  indicate  that  there  are  relatively  more  of  them  married  than 
among  people  in  general.  In  this  family  as  in  the  Kallikaks, 
Zeroes,  Nams,  and  Hill  Folk  early  marriages  were  customary.  Of 
the  Hill  Folk  Danielson  and  Davenport  remark  that,  "The  large 
majority  of  the  matings  which  are  represented  in  this  report  are  of 
defectives  with  defectives.  A  few  of  those  who  have  drifted  into 
a  different  part  of  the  country  have  married  persons  of  a  higher 
degree  of  inteUigence,  but  the  most  of  such  wanderers  have,  even 
in  a  new  location,  found  mates  who  were  about  their  equal  in 
intelligence  and  ambition."  This  condition  is  typical  of  similar 
families. 


SEXUAL  SELECTION,  ASSORTATIVE  MATING,  ETC.     231 

Passing  to  people  of  a  higher  grade  it  may  be  said  that  medioc- 
rity tends  to  mate  with  mediocrity  and  that  superior  types 
tend  to  select  their  mates  among  the  superior.  Common  stand- 
ards, agreement  in  tastes  and  similar  educational  attainments, 
doubtless  have  a  marked  effect  in  bringing  about  unions  between 
those  of  similar  inherent  endowments.  By  thus  limiting  mar- 
riages to  certain  castes  assortative  mating  tends  to  bring  about 
the  differentiation  of  the  race  into  a  number  of  divergent  stocks. 
Whether  it  conduces  to  racial  advance  or  the  reverse  depends 
upon  various  accessory  circumstances.  Per  se  it  is  a  condition  of 
divergence  rather  than  racial  improvement.  Naturally  the 
character  of  the  race  would  be  very  markedly  affected  by  varia- 
tions in  the  frequency  of  age  of  marriage  in  the  castes  which 
assortative  mating  tends  to  create.  Among  the  intellectual 
classes,  while  we  meet  with  the  tendency  of  Hke  to  mate  with  like, 
we  find  the  frequency  of  marriage  much  reduced,  and  the  age  of 
marriage  increased.  Data  previously  cited  in  the  discussion  of 
differential  fecundity  indicate  a  lamentably  low  marriage  rate 
among  college  women.  This  is  probably  due  to  several  causes, 
among  which  may  be  mentioned  the  higher  qualifications  which 
the  college  woman  demands  of  the  man  she  marries,  her  greater 
financial  independence,  and  therefore  the  less  temptation  to 
marry  for  support;  and  to  some  extent,  as  some  writers  have 
pointed  out,  the  fact  that  unattractive  women  may  be  more  apt 
to  go  to  college  than  their  more  favored  sisters.  While  some  may 
take  a  college  course  because  they  do  not  marry  or  are  not  likely 
to  marry,  I  think  that  most  people  connected  with  educational 
institutions  for  several  years  will  agree  that  the  proportion  of  this 
class  has  materially  diminished  in  the  last  two  decades. 

The  situation  revealed  by  Miss  H,  D,  Murphy's  study  of  the 
women  of  Washington  Seminary  is  typical.  The  decrease  of 
marriage  rates  and  the  increase  of  careers  other  than  home  mak- 
ing which  women  follow  are  shown  in  the  following  table: 


232  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

Proportions  of  Graduates  who  Marry 

(From  Popenoe  and  Johnson's  Applied  Eugenics) 

Decade  of  graduation '45  '55  '65  '75  '85  '95  '0° 

Per  cent  married 78  74  67  72  59  57  55 

Per  cent  not  in  home-making 

occupations 20  13  12  11  30  30  39 

Miss  Shinn  {Century,  Oct.,  1895)  gives  the  following  data  on 
the  marriage  rates  of  college  women  assuming  graduation  at 
the  average  age  of  22 : 

Marriage  Rates  of  College  Graduates. 

Age  Coeducated  Separate 

25 38.1 29.6 

30 49-9 40  •  I 

35 53-6 46.6 

40 569 518 

It  may  be  said  that  about  50  per  cent  of  college  women  remain 
unmarried.  It  is  apparently  true  that  women  of  superior  intellect 
and  force  of  character  are  those  who,  whether  college  women  or 
not,  are  pretty  apt  to  be  selected  for  spinsterhood.  They  are 
more  likely  to  win  positions  which  permit  them  to  enjoy  the 
comforts  and  many  of  the  luxuries  of  life;  they  develop  other 
interests  which  often  detract  from  the  appeal  to  matrimony. 
In  some  cases  they  lose  a  certain  feminine  charm,  a  misfortune 
that  arouses  a  deep-seated  instinctive  recoil  in  the  opposite  sex. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  race  is  losing  a  vast  wealth  of 
material  for  motherhood  of  the  best  and  most  efficient  type. 
Many  of  the  women  who  are  nowadays  most  prone  to  sacrifice 
motherhood  to  a  "career"  are  just  the  ones  upon  whom  the  obli- 
gation of  motherhood  should  rest  with  the  greatest  weight.  It 
may  be  seriously  doubted  if  the  growing  independence  of  women, 
despite  its  many  advantages,  has  proven  an  unmixed  blessing. 
Thus  far  it  has  worked  to  deteriorate  the  race  in  the  interests  of 
social  advancement,  a  process  which  is  bound  to  be  disastrous  in 
the  long  run. 


SEXUAL  SELECTION,  ASSORTATIVE  MATING,  ETC.    233 

That  the  marriage  rate  and  the  average  age  of  marriage  vary 
considerably  according  to  the  social  and  economic  status  is  a 
fact  the  racial  influence  of  which  naturally  depends  upon  what 
degree  of  correlation  exists  between  the  social  and  economic 
position  of  different  classes  and  their  heritable  qualities.  Those 
who  believe  that  there  is  no  such  correlation  or  that  it  is  insignif- 
icant in  amount  will  consider  that  it  makes  little  difference  so  far 
as  the  innate  qualities  of  the  race  are  concerned  how  marriage 
rates  or  birth  rates  are  distributed  among  the  different  classes  of 
the  population.  There  is  much  reason  to  believe,  as  I  have  al- 
ready contended,  that  the  inherited  endowments  of  human  beings 
constitute,  in  the  long  run,  a  potent  factor  in  determining  the 
place  they  occupy  in  our  social  organization,  and  if  this  is  true, 
the  marriage  rates  of  different  classes  becomes  a  matter  of  much 
interest  in  regard  to  our  biological  development.  Bertillon  has 
furnished  some  data  on  the  relation  between  the  marriage  rate 
and  economic  status  in  Paris,  Berlin  and  Vienna.  These  are 
presented  in  the  following  table  which  gives  the  number  of  mar- 
riages per  1,000  of  immarried  men  of  over  20  and  of  women  of 
over  15  years  of  age: 


Urban  Marriage  Rates  According  to  Economic  Status 


Character  of  District 


Very  poor.. . 

Poor 

Well  off.  .  .. 
Very  well  off 

Rich 

Very  rich . . . 


Vienna 

Paris 

Berlin 

1891-97 

1886-95 

1886-95 

Men 

Women 

29.1 

44.0 

90.1 

67.0 

27.9 

44-4 

80.6 

52-7 

24.7 

363 

84.0 

48.9 

24-5 

26.5 

71.6 

40.7 

21.0 

26.0 

56.6 

28.7 

21. 1 

20.5 

43-4 

19. 1 

For  several  reasons  this  table  constitutes  only  a  rough  approxi- 
mation to  the  true  relation  between  marriage  and  economic 


234 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


status,  but  the  general  tendency  it  exhibits  is  in  harmony  with 
much  other  evidence. 

The  average  ages  of  the  first  marriage  in  different  classes  in 
Copenhagen  for  the  years  1878-1882  are  given  by  Rubin  and 
Westergaard  as  follows: 

Age  of  Marriage  According  to  Occupation  in  Copenhagen 


Officials,  Merchants. . 
Artizans,  Shopkeepers, 

Teachers... 

Lower  Officials 

Laborers 


Men 


Women 


32.2 

26.5 

31.2 

27.6 

29.7 

26.5 

28.0 

26.8 

27-5 

26.8 

The  diverse  tendencies  exhibited  in  sexual  selection  among 
human  beings  render  it  difficult  to  estimate  the  nature  of  its 
influence.  There  has  been  no  comprehensive  study  in  any 
community  of  the  eugenic  worth  of  those  who  marry  as  compared 
with  those  who  do  not  marry.  Such  a  study  in  several  communi- 
ties of  different  social  and  economic  levels  would  doubtless  yield 
results  of  much  interest  and  value.  We  know  that  many  persons 
remain  unmarried  on  account  of  various  forms  of  congenital 
inferiority  or  defect  both  in  mind  and  body.  It  is  probable  that 
a  much  larger  proportion  of  our  population  are  coming  to  remain 
unmarried  because  they  wish  to  be  economically  independent,  or 
free  to  follow  their  own  lines  of  interest,  or  because  their  ideals  of 
a  life  partner  are  so  high  that  they  have  never  found  the  person 
whom  they  would  consent  to  marry.  Are  the  fine  types  of  hu- 
manity who  now  remain  single  compensated  for  by  those  whose 
natural  inferiority  or  undesirability  prevents  them  from  marry- 
ing? There  is  little  evidence  that  such  is  the  case.  At  present 
it  is  very  doubtful  if  the  net  result  of  sexual  selection  is  in  the 
direction  of  racial  improvement.  ^ 

^  "The  marrying  class  is  nowadays  the  class  that  lacks  the  physiological  qual- 


SEXUAL  SELECTION,  ASSORTATIVE  MATING,  ETC.     235 

But  whatever  may  be  its  present  shortcomings  sexual  selection 
is  an  evolutionary  factor  of  magnificent  possibilities.  It  affords 
perhaps  the  readiest  method  for  a  group  to  realize  its  eugenic 
ideals.  Alfred  Russell  Wallace  believes  that  when  economic 
reforms  do  away  with  the  present  temptation  for  women  to  marry 
in  order  to  secure  subsistence  and  a  home  the  standard  of  mar- 
riage selection  will  be  greatly  raised.  "The  idle  or  the  utterly 
selfish  would  be  almost  universally  rejected;  the  chronically 
diseased  or  the  weak  in  intellect  would  also  usually  remain 
unmarried,  at  least  till  an  advanced  period  of  life,  while  those  who 
showed  any  tendency  to  insanity  or  exhibited  any  congenital 
deformity  would  also  be  rejected  by  the  younger  women,  because 
it  would  be  considered  an  offense  against  society  to  be  the  means 
of  perpetuating  any  such  diseases  or  imperfections."  Women, 
Wallace  contends,  are  now  driven  to  marry  "men  who  are  pal- 
pably unjust,  stupid  or  weak,"  and  that  "it  may  be  taken  as 
certain,  therefore,  than  when  women  are  economically  and  so- 
cially free  to  choose,  numbers  of  the  worst  men  among  all  classes 
who  now  readily  obtain  wives  will  be  almost  certainly  rejected." 

One  would  like  to  be  able  to  share  Wallace's  sanguine  hopes 
of  the  eugenic  potency  of  economic  reform.  Perhaps  his  chival- 
rous championship  of  oppressed  woman  has  prevented  him  from 
giving  due  weight  to  the  existence  of  the  idle,  worthless  and  selfish 
members  of  the  weaker  sex  who,  in  an  improved  economic  regime, 
would  probably  find  no  greater  difficulty  than  they  do  at  present 
in  attaching  themselves  to  some  unfortunate  male.  Both  the 
worthless  and  the  worthy  tend  to  mate  with  their  own  kind,  and 
they  would  doubtless  continue  to  do  so  under  any  economic  sys- 
tem that  could  be  devised.  It  is  not  so  much  economic  reform 
per  se  that  would  improve  marriage  selection,  as  the  greater 
diffusion  of  education,  and  the  elevation  of  the  ethical  standards 
of  the  mass  of  the  people.    The  amelioration  of  economic  abuses 

ifications  for  parentage.  The  better-paid,  well-noimshed,  provident  artizans  are 
marrying  later  in  life,  and  producing  fewer  oflfspring  than  the  slum  natives.  Profes- 
sional men,  doctors,  solicitors,  clergymen,  authors,  artists,  teachers  and  brain- 
workers  are  forced  in  large  numbers  to  defer  wedlock  till  middle  age,  or  even  later." 
Gallichan,  The  Great  Unmarried,  p.  41. 


236         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

might  facilitate  greatly  the  attainment  of  this  goal,  but  it  would 
take  much  more  than  economic  reform  to  bring  about  the  change 
in  our  outlook  and  ideals  that  would  be  required  to  inaugurate  a 
greatly  improved  type  of  sexual  selection. 

REFERENCES 

Assortative  Mating  in  Man.  A  Cooperative  Study.  Biometrica,  2,  482-498,  1903. 
Bliss,  G.  I.    The  Influence  of  Marriage  on  the  Death-Rate  of  Men  and  Women. 

Publ.  Am.  Stat.  Ass.  14,  54-61,  1914. 
Blumer,  J.  C.    Marriage  Rate  of  Iowa  State  College  Women.    Jour.  Heredity,  8, 

217,  1917. 
Castle,  C.  S.    A  Statistical  Study  of  Eminent  Women.    Arch.  Psych.  27,  1913; 

Statistics  of  Eminent  Women.    Pop.  Sci.  Mon.  82,  593-611,  1913. 
Collet,   C.   E.     Prospects  of   Marriage   for  Women.     19th   Cent.   31,   537-552, 

1892. 
Darwin,  C.  R.    The  Descent  of  Man  and  Selection  in  Relation  to  Sex.    ist  ed.  1871, 

Part  3,  Sexual  Selection  in  Relation  to  Man. 
Davenport,  C.  B.     State  Laws  Limiting  Marriage  Selection.     Bull.  Eugen.  Rec. 

Ofif.,  9,  1913- 
Ellis,  H.  H.    Studies  in  the  Psychology  of  Sex.    Sexual  Selection  in  Man,  1905; 

Studies,  etc.,  Sex  in  Relation  to  Society.    Philadelphia,  19 10. 
Finck,  H.  T.    Romantic  Love  and  Personal  Beauty.    Macmillan  Co.,  London  and 

N.  Y.,  1887;  Primitive  Love  and  Love  Stories.    Scribner's  Sons,  N.  Y.,  1899. 
Fol.,  H.    La  Ressemblance  entre  Epoux.    Rev.  Scientif.  47,  47-49>  1891. 
Gallichan,  W.  M.    The  Great  Unmarried.    F.  A.  Stokes,  N.  Y.,  1913. 
Haecke,  H.    Die  Ehelosen,  eine  bevolkerungs-und  sozialstatistische  Betrachtung. 

Jahrb.  f.  Nationalokon.  u.  Statist.  Ill  Folge,  42,  1-32,  191 1. 
Harris,  J.  A.    Assortative  Mating  in  Man.    Pop.  Sci.  Mon.  80,  476-493,  1912. 
Hartley,  C.  G.    The  Position  of  Women  in  Primitive  Society.    E.  Nash.,  London, 

1914. 
Johnson,  R.  H.    Marriage  Selection.    Jour.  Hered.  5,  102-110,  1914. 
Marvin,  D.  M.     Occupational  Propinquity  as  a  Factor  in  Marriage  Selection. 

Pubs.  Am.  Stat.  Ass.  16,  131-150,  1918. 
Nisbet,  J.  F.    Marriage  and  Heredity.    Ward  and  Downey,  London,  1903. 
Pearson,  K.    Mathematical  Contributions  to  the  Theory  of  Evolution,  III.  Regres- 
sion, Heredity  and  Panmixia.    Phil.  Trans.  187,  253-318,  1896,  and  VIII.  On 

the  Inheritance  of  Characters  not  Capable  of  Exact  Measurement,  1.  c.  195, 

79-150,  1901.    See  also  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  66,  23-33,  iQoo- 
Prinzing,  F.     Heiratshaufigkeit  und  Heiratsalter  nach  Stand  und  Beruf.     Zeit.  f. 

Sozialwiss.  6,  546-559,   1903;  Die  Sterblichkeit  der  Ledigen  und  der  Ver- 

heiratcten  nebst  Sterbetafeln  derselben  berechnet  fiir  Bayern.    Allgemeines 

Stat.  Archiv.  5,  237-262,  1899. 
Rubin,  M.  and  Westergaard,  H.    Statistik  der  Ehen  auf  Grund  der  sozialen  Glied- 

erung.    Jena, 1890. 
Shinn,  M.    Marriage  of  College  Women.    Century,  50,  946-948,  1895. 


SEXUAL  SELECTION,  ASSORTATIVE  MATING,  ETC.     237 

Smith,  M.  R.     Statistics  of  College  and  Non-college  Women.     Pubs.  Am.  Stat. 

Ass.  7,  1-26,  1900. 
Snow,  E.  C.     Selection  and  Assortative  Mating.     Brit.  Med.  Jour.  1912,  i,  836. 
Stanley,  H.  M.    Our  Civilization  and  the  Marriage  Problem.    Arena,  2,  94-100, 

1890;  Artificial  Selection  and  the  Marriage  Problem.    The  Monist,  2,  51-55, 

1891-92. 
Steinmetz,  S.  R.    Feminismus  und  Rasse.    Zeit.  f.  Socialwiss.,  1904. 
Strahan,  S.  A.  K.    Marriage  and  Disease.    Appleton  and  Co.,  N.  Y,  1892. 
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325-337,  1890;  Social  Environment  and  Moral  Progress.     Cassell  and  Co., 

London,  1913. 
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London,  1894. 
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Char,  and  Corr.  1890,  435-437,  1890. 


CHAPTER  XI 

CONSANGUINEOUS  MARRIAGES  AND 
MISCEGENATION 

"  We  are  coming  honestly  to  believe  that  the  world  is  richer  for  the 
existence  both  of  other  civilizations  and  of  other  racial  types  than  our 
own.  .  .  .  Even  if  we  look  at  the  future  of  the  species  as  a  matter  of 
pure  biology,  we  are  warned  by  men  of  science  that  it  is  not  safe  to 
depend  only  on  one  family  or  one  variety  for  the  whole  breeding-stock 
of  the  world.  For  the  moment  we  shrink  from  the  interbreeding  of 
races,  but  we  do  so  in  spite  of  some  conspicuous  examples  of  successful 
interbreeding  in  the  past,  and  largely  because  of  our  complete  ig- 
norance of  the  conditions  on  which  success  depends." — Graham  Wal- 
las, Human  Nature  and  Politics,  pp.  293,  294. 

The  peoples  of  the  earth  have  followed  the  most  varied  customs 
in  regard  to  marriage.  From  extreme  inbreeding  we  have  all 
gradations  to  the  crossing  of  distinct  races.  Among  savage  and 
barbarous  peoples  the  practice  of  exogamy,  or  marriage  outside 
the  tribe,  is  very  prevalent.  In  general,  we  find  that  marriages 
between  near  relatives  are  forbidden,  and  often  the  prohibition 
goes  farther  and  includes  those  bearing  the  same  name  or  belong- 
ing to  a  group  which  may  be  specified  in  various  other  ways. 
Such  prohibitions  are  not  due  to  any  instinctive  repugnance  to 
incest, — certainly  no  such  instinct  occurs  in  the  lower  animals, — 
nor  is  it  reasonable  to  suppose,  as  has  sometimes  been  done,  that 
they  arose  from  the  observed  ill  effects  of  consanguineous  unions. 
The  effect  of  marriages  among  near  kin  is  a  matter  about  which 
qualified  students  of  genetics  have  come  to  different  opinions,  and 
it  is  hardly  probable  that  primitive  peoples  have  been  able  to 
arrive  at  valid  conclusions  on  a  subject  that  requires  for  its 
solution  a  refinement  of  inductive  method  which  is  quite  alien  to 
the  thinking  of  untrained  men. 

Among  plants  and  animals  the  effects  of  inbreeding  and  cross 
breeding  have  long  attracted  the  attention  of  breeders.     The 

238 


CONSANGUINEOUS  MARRIAGES  239 

subject  enlisted  the  interest  of  Mr.  Darwin  who  devoted  to  it 
several  years  of  study.  By  an  extensive  series  of  well-planned  and 
controlled  experiments  Darwin  showed  that  in  many  plants  con- 
tinued inbreeding  was  followed  by  a  reduction  of  the  size,  vigor 
and  fertility  of  the  stock,  and  that  crosses  with  related  varieties 
often  led  to  the  production  of  forms  with  greater  vigor  than  either 
of  the  parents.  In  fact,  many  plants  were  found  to  be  sterile  when 
fertilized  with  their  own  pollen,  although  others,  such  as  beans, 
are  regularly  self-pollinated.  The  numerous  mechanical  and 
other  devices  by  means  of  which  plants  effect  cross  fertilization, 
were  interpreted  as  adaptations  developed  by  natural  selection 
for  securing  the  advantages  which  crossing  was  supposed  to 
confer.  "Nature,"  says  Darwin,  ''abhors  perpetual  self-fertUi- 
zation." 

Among  animals,  cross  fertilization  is  more  common  than  in 
plants.  Male  and  female  sex  organs  are  more  frequently  borne  by 
separate  individuals,  but  even  where  hermaphroditism  exists,  it 
is  an  exceedingly  rare  occurrence  for  eggs  to  be  fertilized  by  sperm 
cells  from  the  same  animal.  With  the  exception  of  some  of  the 
Protozoa,  we  do  not  meet  with  that  close  inbreeding  which  is 
found  in  a  considerable  number  of  species  of  plants. 

"When,"  says  Darwin,  "we  consider  the  various  facts  now 
given  which  plainly  show  that  good  follows  from  crossing,  and  less 
plainly  that  evil  follows  from  close  interbreeding,  and  when  we 
bear  in  mind  that  throughout  the  organic  world  elaborate  provi- 
sion has  been  made  for  the  occasional  union  of  distinct  individuals, 
the  evidence  of  a  great  law  of  nature  is,  if  not  proved,  at  least 
rendered  in  the  highest  degree  probable;  namely,  that  the  crossing 
of  animals  and  plants  which  are  not  closely  related  to  each  other 
is  highly  beneficial  or  even  necessary,  and  that  interbreeding 
prolonged  during  many  generations  is  highly  injurious." 

When  we  observe  the  inbreeding  of  plants  and  animals  we 
cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  by  the  varied  results  which  are  found 
in  different  forms.  In  many  plants  continued  self-pollmation  is 
followed  by  rapid  deterioration.  Shull  and  also  East  and  Hayes 
in  experimenting  with  inbred  varieties  of  corn  found  that  there 


240  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

was  a  general  decrease  of  productivity  in  successive  generations. 
When  two  deteriorated  inbred  strains  were  crossed  the  yield 
was  generally  markedly  increased.  In  order  to  insure  the  great- 
est production  in  corn  it  is  necessary  to  use  seed  that  results  from 
the  crossing  of  different  strains. 

In  tobaccos  which  are  commonly  self-pollinated  the  effects  of 
crossing  are  much  more  variable.  In  the  cross  between  Nicotiana 
tabacum  and  N.  sylvestris  East  and  Hayes  found  that  the  Fi  hy- 
brids were  superior  to  the  parents  in  height,  vigor  and  profusion 
of  flowers,  although  they  were  sterile.  Crosses  between  some 
tobaccos  resulted  in  small,  weak  plants,  and  crosses  between 
others  were  entirely  without  result.  In  fact  the  tobaccos  present 
almost  every  gradation  between  negative  results  and  a  greatly 
enhanced  vigor  of  progeny. 

There  are  many  plants,  such  as  our  garden  peas  and  beans,  in 
which  the  opportunity  for  self-pollination  is  normally  excluded, 
which  propagate  indefinitely  without  deterioration.  Others  re- 
produce parthenogenetically  or  propagate  by  purely  vegetative 
methods  without  any  apparent  loss  of  vigor.  In  such  species 
crosses  may  produce  plants  of  increased  size  and  sometimes 
greater  fertility,  or  the  reverse,  according  to  the  particular  kinds 
used.  While  it  is  a  very  general  fact  that  crossing  of  related 
varieties  produces  superior  types,  the  rule  is  very  far  from  being 
a  universal  law. 

Most  breeders  of  animals  have  held  that  close  inbreeding, 
while  of  value  for  the  preservation  or  the  enhancement  of  desired 
qualities,  tends  to  produce  a  deterioration  of  the  stock.  The 
experiments  of  Crampe,  Ritzima  Bos,  Weismann,  von  Guaita 
and  Fabre-Domengue  afforded  support  to  the  commonly  accepted 
opinions  of  the  practical  breeder.  These  results,  however,  should 
be  accepted  with  caution  in  the  light  of  more  recent  investigations. 

The  work  of  Castle  and  his  pupils  on  the  fruit  fly  Drosophila 
showed  that  brother  and  sister  matings  could  be  carried  on  for 
59  generations  without  loss  of  fertility,  although  the  crossing  of 
two  inbred  strains  produced  a  more  fertile  progeny.  Moenk- 
haus  found  that  within  a  closely  inbred  strain  of  Drosophila, 


CONSANGUINEOUS  MARRIAGES  241 

fertility  could  be  increased  as  well  as  decreased  by  selective  breed- 
ing. Some  of  the  lines  were  inbred  (brother  and  sister)  for  75 
generations  without  loss  of  fertility  or  vigor.  The  work  of 
Shultze  and  of  Copeman  and  Parsons  on  mice,  of  Castle  on  rats 
(bred  for  17  generations),  and  the  observations  on  guinea  pigs 
reported  by  Popenoe  revealed  no  evidence  of  a  decline  of  fer- 
tility as  a  result  of  inbreeding. 

The  most  thorough  investigation  of  inbreeding  has  been 
carried  on  by  Miss  H.  D.  King  with  the  albino  rat.  The  work  of 
Miss  King  revealed  several  sources  of  error  that  have  to  be 
guarded  against  in  a  study  of  inbreeding  and  which  not  improb- 
ably misled  some  previous  investigators  of  the  subject.  Without 
describing  the  methods  and  precautions  followed  by  Miss  King, 
it  may  be  stated  that  25  generations  of  such  close  inbreeding  as 
brother  and  sister  matings  did  not  produce  any  loss  in  the  vigor, 
growth,  or  fertility  of  the  inbred  strains  as  compared  with  the 
controls. 

The  rediscovery  of  Mendel's  law  in  1900  stimulated  renewed 
interest  in  the  problems  of  inbreeding  and  cross  breeding,  and  led 
to  attempts  to  interpret  the  varied  results  in  terms  of  this  illum- 
inating principle.  The  usual  explanation  given  is  that  inbreeding 
is  injurious  only  when  it  brings  out  unfavorable  characteristics 
that  have  been  latent  in  the  stock.  Naturally,  inbreeding  affords 
an  opportunity  for  recessive  characters  to  make  their  appearance. 
If,  for  instance,  such  a  recessive  trait  as  albinism  is  present  in  a 
stock,  it  may  be  brought  out  by  inbreeding.  Davenport  remarks 
that  "Albino  communities  of  which  there  are  several  in  the 
United  States  are  inbred  communities,  but  not  all  inbred  com- 
munities contain  albinos." 

Many  strains  contain  recessive  characteristics  of  an  undesirable 
kind.  So  long  as  these  are  kept  from  appearing  by  the  presence  of 
corresponding  dominant  characteristics  all  goes  well.  But  when 
two  organisms  are  crossed  in  each  of  which  the  recessive  trait 
occurs,  we  should  expect  the  trait  to  appear  in  one-fourth  of  the 
offspring.  In  the  different  varieties  of  corn  there  are  probably 
many  factors  upon  which  size,  vigor  and  fertility  depend.    Most 


242  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

recessive  factors,  are  prevented  from  becoming  manifest  owing  to 
the  cross  pollination  that  usually  occurs.  WTien  self-fertilization 
takes  place  these  recessive  factors  have  an  opportunity  to  find 
expression.  With  continued  self-fertilization  the  strain  becomes 
homozygous  for  more  and  more  factors,  until  finally  a  condition  is 
reached  with  complete  homozygosis  in  which  no  further  deterio- 
ration results.  In  com  much  more  deterioration  occurs  in  some 
varieties  than  in  others.  This  is  what  one  would  expect  according 
to  the  Mendelian  interpretation,  inasmuch  as  the  characters  for 
which  the  strain  comes  to  be  homozygous  would  vary  in  different 
cases.  ^ 

Inbreeding  in  forms  containing  no  recessive  factors  that  make 
for  reduced  vigor  would,  according  to  this  interpretation,  produce 
no  ill  effects.  Inbreeding  does  not  cause  defect;  it  simply  brings 
out  latent  defect  when  it  occurs  in  both  parents.  Whether  or 
not  inbreeding  is  followed  by  inferior  progeny  depends,  therefore, 
upon  the  composition  of  the  germ  plasm  of  the  inbred  stock. 
If  the  stock  is  good  it  not  only  produces  no  degeneracy,  but 
affords  a  means  of  perpetuating  valuable  qualities,  and  it  becomes 
especially  useful  when  the  desired  qualities  are  recessive. 

The  usual  Mendelian  interpretation  of  the  results  of  inbreeding 
and  cross  breeding  which  has  been  briefly  outlined  affords  a 
plausible  explanation,  so  far  as  it  goes,  of  the  diverse  results 
obtained,  and  is  supported  by  other  lines  of  evidence  which  we 
shall  not  here  attempt  to  discuss. 

'  Keeble  and  Pellew  have  attempted  to  explain  the  fact  that  heterozygosis  is 
commonly  associated  with  increased  vigor,  by  assuming  that  there  are  more  dom- 
inant factors  present  in  the  heterozygous  state.  The  results  of  heterozygosis  are 
doubtless  dependent  not  merely  on  the  number  of  different  factors  present,  but 
upon  their  quality  and  the  nature  of  their  interactions.  If  recent  investigations 
throw  doubt  on  the  doctrine  of  seneseence  and  the  theory  of  rejuvenescence, 
several  problems  in  regard  to  inbreeding  and  cross  breeding  still  remain  obscure. 
From  the  standpoint  of  vigor  and  fertility  we  can  only  say  that  some  crosses  are 
good,  soma  are  bad  and  others  indifferent.  While  Mendel's  law  may  have  brought 
us  nearer  the  explanation  of  why  these  diverse  results  occur,  the  final  solution  of 
the  problem  must  await  further  research.  See  also  the  discussions  of  this  topic 
in  East  and  Jones'  Inbreeding  and  OuLbrceding  (Phila.,  1919)  which  appeared  after 
the  above  was  written. 


CONSANGUINEOUS  MARRIAGES  243 

In  the  light  of  what  is  known  of  the  effects  of  inbreeding  and 
cross  breeding  in  plants  and  animals  it  is  obvious  that  we  are  not 
in  a  position  to  draw  conclusions  a  priori  in  regard  to  inbreeding 
and  cross  breeding  in  man.  In  the  absence  of  direct  observations 
on  the  effect  of  crossing  of  any  two  races  of  human  beings,  we 
might  expect  as  a  probable  result  that,  in  regard  to  general  vigor, 
(i)  the  progeny  would  be  superior  to  both  parents,  (2)  that  they 
would  be  inferior  to  both,  (3)  that  they  would  be  superior  to  the 
one  and  inferior  to  the  other,  or  (4)  that  they  would  be  on  the 
same  general  level  as  either  one.  We  might  predict  with  some 
assurance  what  would  be  the  probable  outcome  as  to  the  inheri- 
tance of  eye  color,  hair  color  and  some  other  characters  whose 
mode  of  transmission  has  been  studied  in  other  cases.  But  con- 
cerning most  of  the  qualities  that  render  one  race  superior  to 
another  we  should  be  justified  in  making  only  very  guarded 
suppositions. 

The  results  of  inbreeding  and  cross  breeding  in  man  present  a 
general  similarity  to  those  observed  in  plants  and  animals.  They 
may  reasonably  be  interpreted  according  to  the  Mendelian 
scheme,  although  this  circumstance  might  not  enable  us  to  say 
whether,  in  general,  they  are  desirable  or  the  reverse.  In  regard 
to  the  effect  of  consanguineous  marriages  especially,  there  has 
accumulated  a  large  number  of  observations.  It  is  an  undoubted 
fact  that  such  matings  have  frequently  been  followed  by  the 
appearance  of  undesirable  characteristics  in  the  offspring.  But  in 
weighing  the  evidence  on  this  point  one  has  to  guard  against  being 
imduly  impressed  by  facts  which  have  been  especially  selected  to 
support  a  particular  thesis.  Numerous  cases  have  been  reported 
in  which  various  defects  have  been  associated  with  consanguin- 
eous matings.  It  would  be  possible,  however,  to  amass  many 
instances  of  this  kind  even  if  consanguinity  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  production  of  defect.  With  this  caveat  in  mind  let  us 
consider  this  possible  influence  of  consanguinity  in  bringing  to 
light  certain  hereditary  traits. 

The  role  of  consanguinity  in  bringing  forth  feeble-minded  off- 
spring has  been  discussed  by  many  authors  who  have  reported 


244 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


most  diverse  results.  Huth  has  compiled  the  following  table  from 
several  writers  who  have  given  the  percentage  of  consanguinity 
among  the  parents  of  idiotic  offspring: 


Feeble-Minded  Of  spring  from  Consanguineous  Marriages 


Observers 

Total  No.  of 

Feeble-Minded 

Cases 

No.  Derived  for 
Consanguineous 
Marriage 

Percentage 

GraUiaus 

1,388 

359 
852 
213 
160 

519 

53 

17  (or  20) 

60 

18 

20 

98 

3-8 

Howe 

4.7  (or  5.5) 

Down 

7.0 

Ireland 

8-5 

Comm.  of  Conn 

Bemiss 

12.5 
15.0 

Mitchell 

18. 1 

The  fluctuations  in  these  data  do  not  prove  the  contention  of 
Huth  that  the  statistics  are  entirely  worthless.  They  are  what 
one  would  expect  in  the  Ught  of  Mendelian  theory.  And  there  is 
nothing  surprising  in  the  results  obtained  by  Dr.  Voisin  who 
found,  as  the  result  of  a  careful  examination  of  1,077  of  his 
patients  at  Bicetre  and  Saltpetreiere,  that  in  no  one  instance 
could  healthy  consanguinity  be  regarded  as  a  cause  of  idiocy, 
epilepsy  or  insanity.  The  same  observer  reports  on  an  isolated 
community  at  Batz  in  which  there  were  five  cousin  marriages  and 
31  second  cousin  marriages  with  no  malformations  or  mental  de- 
fects. Howe,  on  the  other  hand,  found  among  the  parents  of  359 
idiots,  17  and  possibly  20  cases  of  consanguineous  marriages. 
These  consanguineous  parents,  several  of  whom  were  scrofulous 
and  intemperate,  produced  95  children  "of  whom  44  were  idiotic, 
12  others  were  scrofulous,  i  was  dead  and  i  was  a  dwarf."  The 
percentage  of  idiots  given  in  the  table  as  the  findings  of  Bemiss 
rests  upon  an  inference  not  very  well  supported  by  the  facts. 
Out  of  833  consanguineous  marriages  he  found  that  7.8  per  cent 


CONSANGUINEOUS  MARRIAGES  245 

of  the  children  were  feeble-minded,  while  out  of  125  ordi- 
nary marriages  the  feeble-minded  children  were  only  0.7  per 
cent. 

Consanguineous  marriages  were  found  by  Estabrook  and  Dav- 
enport to  constitute  nearly  a  quarter  of  all  the  matings  of  the 
Nam  family.  Many  of  the  inbred  lines  of  this  notorious  stock  pro- 
duced a  high  percentage  of  feeble-minded  offspring.  The  same 
is  true  of  the  Kallikaks  and  other  families  with  a  large  amount  of 
mental  defect.  It  is  undeniable  that  in  such  cases  the  marriage 
of  relatives  is  apt  to  produce  unfortunate  results. 

The  role  of  consanguinity  in  the  production  of  deaf -mutism  has 
been  studied  especially  by  Fay  and  Bell.  The  precise  mode  of 
transmission  of  congenital  deafness  is  not  known.  It  is  appar- 
ently recessive,  but  nevertheless  the  marriage  of  two  congenital 
deaf  mutes  produces  only  about  25  per  cent,  instead  of  100  per 
cent,  of  deaf  offspring.  This  may  be  at  least  formally  explained 
by  assuming  that  deafness  is  often  the  result  of  different  factors 
in  different  strains.  Fay  found  that  marriages  of  deaf  mute 
relatives  produced  30  per  cent  of  deaf  offspring,  and  that  45 
per  cent  of  the  matings  produced  at  least  one  deaf  child.  Bell  on 
the  basis  of  the  U.  S.  census  returns  estimates  that  "of  the  2,527 
deaf  whose  parents  were  cousins,  632,  or  25  per  cent,  are  congeni- 
tally  deaf,  of  whom  350  or  55.41  per  cent  also  have  deaf  relatives 
of  the  classes  specified;  while  among  the  53,980  whose  parents 
were  not  so  related  the  number  of  congeni tally  deaf  is  3,666  or 
but  6.8  per  cent,  of  whom  only  1,023,  or  27.9  per  cent  have  deaf 
relatives."^ 

As  Davenport  states  "If  one  partner  be  congeni  tally  deaf  and 
the  other  have  no  ear  defect  and  knows  none  in  his  family  the 
chances  for  deaf  offspring  are  small.  In  72  such  marriages  con- 
sidered by  Fay  only  5  resulted  in  deaf  offspring.    It  is  quite  likely 

1  For  an  interesting  attempt  to  interpret  congenital  deafness  as  a  simple  Mende- 
lian  character  see  H.  Lundborg,  Ueber  die  Erblichkeitsverhaltnisse  der  konstitu- 
tionellen  (hereditaren)  Taubstummheit.  Arch.  f.  Rass.  Ges.  Biol.  9,  133-149,  191 2. 
Further  discussion  by  the  same  author  will  be  found  in  the  new  journal  HcrcdUas, 
Vol.  I,  35-40,  1920.  See  also  Bergh,  E.  Studier  over  dovstumheten  i  Malmohus 
Ian.    M.  D.  thesis,  Stockholm,  1919. 


246  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

that  in  some  even  of  these  five  matings  the  normal  parent  had 
unknown  deaf  relatives.  But  if  the  hearing  partner  have  deaf 
relatives  then  the  proportion  of  resulting  fraternities  containing 
deaf  mutes  increases  to  35  per  cent." 

Huth  who  has  made  a  very  useful  compilation  of  data  on  the 
subject  has  tabulated  returns  from  52  institutions  or  observers 
with  percentages  of  deaf  mutes  of  consanguineous  origin  varying 
from  o  to  34.4,  but  with  a  general  average  of  over  5  per  cent  in 
33  cases,  of  10  per  cent  or  over  in  21  cases,  and  25  per  cent  or 
over  in  6  cases.  Although  the  variability  of  these  results  was 
used  as  an  argument  against  the  role  of  consanguineous  marriages 
per  se  in  the  production  of  deafness,  the  data  show  that  this  defect 
arises  from  such  marriages  in  an  unusually  large  number  of  in- 
stances. 

The  problem  of  the  inheritance  of  deaf -mutism,  like  that  of  the 
transmission  of  feeble-mindedness,  epilepsy  and  insanity,  is  com- 
plicated by  the  as  yet  insufi&ciently  known  influence  of  syphilis. 
Dr.  Kerr  Love  has  attempted  to  separate  cases  of  syphilitic  origin 
by  the  use  of  the  Wassermann  reaction.  It  is  only  by  eUminating 
such  cases,  as  well  as  those  caused  early  in  life,  that  the  real  mode 
by  which  deafness  is  transmitted  can  be  revealed. 

Where  people  form  inbreeding  communities  different  traits  are 
apt  to  become  prevalent  in  different  localities.  According  to 
Davenport,  "consanguinity  on  Martha's  Vineyard  results  in  11 
per  cent  deaf  mutes  and  a  number  of  hermaphrodites;  in  Point 
Judith  in  13  per  cent  idiocy  and  7  per  cent  insanity;  in  an  island 
off  the  Maine  Coast  the  consequence  is  intellectual  dullness;  in 
Block  Island  loss  of  fecundity;  in  some  of  the  'Banks'  off  the 
coast  of  North  Carolina,  suspiciousness,  and  an  inability  to  pass 
beyond  the  third  or  fourth  grade  of  school ;  in  a  peninsula  on  the 
east  coast  of  Chesapeake  Bay  the  defect  is  dwarf ness  of  stature; 
in  George  Island  and  Abaco  (Bahama  Islands)  it  is  idiocy  and 
blindness  (G.  A.  Penrose,  1905).  There  is  no  one  trait  that  re- 
sults from  the  marriage  of  kin;  the  result  is  determined  by  the 
specific  defect  in  the  germ  plasm  of  the  common  ancestor." 

Such  evils  of  inbreeding  as  have  been  discussed  may  be  re- 


CONSANGUINEOUS  MARRIAGES  247 

garded  as  the  inevitable  consequence  of  Mendel's  law  of  inheri- 
tance. Where  a  defect  is  inherited  by  two  parents  from  a  common 
ancestor  their  union  is  naturally  followed  by  the  production  of 
the  defect  in  question.  It  may  be  seriously  doubted  if  inbreeding 
does  more  than  this  or  is  ever  strictly  speaking  the  cause  of  defect 
of  any  kind ;  it  simply  makes  manifest  defects  that  are  already  in 
the  germ  plasm. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  if  inbreeding  sometimes  brings 
out  undesirable  qualities  it  may  also  conserve  good  ones.  A 
conspicuous  example  of  a  consanguineous  marriage  which  was 
productive  of  most  fortunate  results  is  afforded  by  the  marriage 
of  Charles  Darwin  with  his  first  cousin,  Emma  Wedgewood.  The 
Wedgewoods,  like  the  Darwins,  belonged  to  a  noteworthy  family. 
Josiah  Wedgewood  the  founder  of  the  works  that  make  the  well- 
known  Wedgewood  pottery  was  a  F.  R.  S.  as  was  also  the  cele- 
brated Erasmus  Darwin.  All  of  Darwin's  sons  became  celebrated 
for  their  intellectual  achievements  and  are  noteworthy  for  being 
unusually  able  and  normal  types  of  men. 

A  good  deal  of  close  intermarrying  has  occurred  in  the  Walcotts, 
Edwards,  and  other  old  New  England  families  who  have  produced 
many  of  our  most  able  men.  Consanguineous  marriages  have 
probably  been  a  means  of  conserving  superior  ability  in  some  of 
the  royal  families  of  Europe,  although  in  others  they  have  served 
to  bring  out  a  neuropathic  inheritance.^ 

The  effect  of  crosses  between  different  races  and  peoples  has 
been  the  subject  of  no  end  of  discussion.  Naturalists,  historians, 
anthropologists,  travelers,  missionaries,  and  casual  observers  of 
aU  descriptions  have  contributed  to  swell  the  volume  of  literature 
which  has  been  accumulating  on  this  subject  since  the  days  of  the 
author  of  Leviticus.  Even  the  most  competent  observers  have 
come  to  opposed  conclusions,  and  it  is  not  rare  to  find  the  same 
mongrel  race  spoken  of  by  different  writers  in  quite  contradictory 
terms.    No  one  can  read  much  of  the  literature  on  race  crossing 

1  That  cousin  marriages  in  England  are  no  more  harmful  than  ordinary  mar- 
riages is  indicated  by  the  statistical  investigations  of  George  Darwin  (Jour.  Roy. 
Stat.  Soc.  38,  153-182,  1875.) 


248         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

without  being  impressed  with  the  fact  that  prejudice  and  precon- 
ceived opinions  have  greatly  influenced  the  verdict  of  a  large 
proportion  of  those  who  have  dealt  with  the  problem.  It  is  no 
easy  matter  in  most  cases  to  distinguish  the  effects  of  race  cross- 
ing per  se  from  the  influence  of  the  social  environment  under 
which  the  cross  breed  lives.  The  product  of  race  mixture  is  very 
frequently  a  person  of  unsettled  social  status.  He  is  more  or  less 
alienated  from  both  races  from  which  he  sprang.  His  associations 
are  only  two  frequently  with  the  worst  elements  of  the  more  culti- 
vated stock.  The  family  environment  and  traditions  under 
which  he  is  brought  up  are  often  less  favorable  than  they  are  for 
the  offspring  of  either  pure  race.  Contact  between  whites  and 
natives  has  effected  the  debauchery  of  the  native  women,  in- 
creased addiction  to  alcohol,  and  the  introduction  of  tubuculosis 
and  other  diseases  which  are  apt  to  be  especially  severe  upon  the 
inferior  race.  The  spread  of  venereal  diseases  with  the  most 
deplorable  influence  upon  the  native  and  mixed  population  is  an 
occurrence  which  has  been  repeated  almost  times  without  number 
wherever  civilized  man  has  mingled  with  more  primitive  peoples. 
Where  race  mixture  occurs  old  customs  which  form  the  chief 
restraining  influence  on  conduct  become  broken  up ;  tribal  feeling 
and  character  are  weakened,  and  moral  laxity  naturally  follows. 

The  saddest  pages  of  history  are  those  which  deal  with  the 
relations  of  the  white  man  with  his  less  enlightened  brethren. 
The  whites  may  have  introduced  missionaries,  salvation,  and  a 
measure  of  education,  but  they  have  also  brought  s^'philis,  de- 
bauchery, industrial  slavery  and  not  infrequently  extinction. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  shortcomings  frequently 
attributed  to  mongrel  stocks  are  the  result  of  causes  quite  inde- 
pendent of  heredity.  Nevertheless,  nothing  is  more  common 
than  to  find  the  defects  and  vices  as  well  as  the  virtues  of  mixed 
races  attributed  to  the  influence  of  race  mixture  per  se.  An  opin- 
ion on  race  mixture  which  is  frequently  appealed  to  is  that  of 
Prof.  Agassiz  who  says,  in  speaking  of  the  mbced  population  of 
Brazil,  ''Let  any  one  who  doubts  the  evil  of  this  mixture  of  races, 
and  is  inclined  from  mistaken  philanthropy  to  break  down  all 


CONSANGUINEOUS  MARRIAGES  249 

barriers  between  them,  come  to  Brazil.  He  cannot  deny  the 
deterioration  consequent  upon  the  amalgamation  of  races,  more 
wide  spread  here  than  in  any  country  in  the  world,  and  which  is 
rapidly  effacing  the  best  qualities  of  the  white  man,  the  negro, 
and  the  Indian,  leaving  a  mongrel,  nondescript  type,  deficient  in 
physical  and  mental  energy." 

Schultz  in  speaking  of  race  mixture  in  Peru  says,  "The  degen- 
eration there  is  even  greater  and  has  been  more  rapid  than  in 
the  other  South  American  countries  and  the  cause  is  the  infusion 
of  Chinese  blood  into  the  veins  of  the  white-negro-Indian  com- 
pound. There  are  scarcely  any  Indo-Europeans  of  pure  blood  in 
Peru,  for  with  the  exception  of  pure  Indians  in  the  interior  the 
population  consists  of  mestizos,  Zambos,  mulattoes,  terceroons, 
quadroons,  cholos,  musties,  fustics  and  dusties;  crosses  between 
Spaniards  and  Indians,  Spaniards  and  negroes,  Spaniards  and 
yellows;  crosses  between  these  people  and  the  cholos,  musties 
and  dusties;  crosses  between  mongrels  of  one  kind  and  mongrels 
of  other  kinds.  All  kinds  of  cross  breeds  infest  the  land.  The 
result  is  incredible  rottenness."  In  all  the  great  South  American 
melting  pot  and  also  in  Mexico  and  Central  America  we  meet 
with  much  the  same  situation. 

Schultz's  book  {Race  or  Mongrel?)  is  a  plea  for  racial  purity. 
The  downfall  of  nations  which  has  been  explained  in  so  many 
different  ways  is  accounted  for  in  this  volume  as  a  result  of  hy- 
bridization. Greeks,  Romans,  Hindoos,  Egyptians  and  Lom- 
bards have  all  been  destroyed  by  the  admixture  of  foreign  blood. 
"Nature  suffers  no  mongrel  to  live."  Only  the  pure  races  thrive 
and  attain  a  high  degree  of  development. 

Lapouge  speaking  of  race  crosses  tells  us  that  "En  general, 
les  resultats  de  ces  unions  n'ont  rien  d'avantageux.  Laideur, 
vulgarite,  manque  de  vigueur,  moindre  duree  de  vie,  tares  phys- 
iques nomb reuses,  nos  sang-meles  ont  tout  contre  eux."  Mr. 
Madison  Grant  in  a  recent  work  {The  Passing  of  the  Great  Race) 
which  has  attracted  considerable  attention,  represents  the  racial 
hybrid  as  no  higher  than  the  lower  race  from  which  he  sprang. 
"The  cross  between  a  white  man  and  an  Indian  is  an  Indian; 


250         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

the  cross  between  a  white  man  and  a  negro  is  a  negro ,  the  cross 
between  a  white  man  and  a  Hindu  is  a  Hindu,  and  the  cross  be- 
tween any  of  the  three  European  races  and  a  Jew  is  a  Jew." 

The  unfortunate  cross  breed  has  come  in  for  condemnation 
from  all  quarters.  The  favorite  description  is  that  the  mongrel 
inherits  the  vices  of  both  parents  and  the  virtues  of  neither.  Ac- 
cording to  Schultz,  it  is  according  to  a  "law  of  nature," — although 
why  it  is  so  is  inexplicable, — that  "only  the  bad  qualities  of  the 
whites  and  the  negro  are  transmitted  to  the  mongrel  offspring." 
Certainly  the  results  of  hybridization  in  plants  and  animals  are 
very  far  from  proving  Schultz's  thesis.  And  it  is  rather  surprising 
that  a  writer  who  appeals  to  biology  as  affording  a  support  to  his 
views  on  race  mixture  should  have  ignored  so  much  that  fails  to 
corroborate  his  theory.  It  is  nonsense  to  say  that  the  inferiority 
of  the  hybrid  exemplifies  a  law  of  nature.  There  are  abundant 
plant  and  animal  hybrids  that  are  superior  types,  and  biology  af- 
fords no  a  priori  reason  why  the  hybrids  of  races  and  peoples 
may  not  be  superior  also.  We  can  only  decide  the  question  by  an 
impartial  appeal  to  the  results  of  race  crossing,  after  making 
due  allowance  for  the  social  and  other  influences  which  may  affect 
the  character  of  the  mixed  stock. 

That  mongrel  nations  are  often  decadent  is  not  an  infallible 
proof  that  biologically  or  psychologically  the  effect  of  race  cross- 
ing is  bad.  Mr.  James  Bryce  states  in  his  work  on  South  America, 
— a  work  which,  by  the  way,  gives  a  verdict  quite  different  from 
that  of  Schultz  on  the  mixed  people  of  that  country, — "No  one 
has  yet  studied  scientifically  the  results  of  race  fusion.  History 
throws  little  light  on  the  subject,  because  wherever  there  has  been 
a  mixture  of  races  there  have  been  also  concomitant  circum- 
stances influencing  the  people  who  are  the  product  of  the  mixture 
which  have  made  it  hard  to  determine  whether  the  deterioration 
(or  improvement)  is  due  to  this  or  some  other  cause." 

Mr.  Bryce  is  no  apologist  for  miscegenation  and  he  has  else- 
where warned  the  American  people  of  the  danger  of  absorbing  the 
blood  of  the  negro.  Race  crossing  may  have  unfortunate  social 
consequences  without  being  bad  biologically.    As  Topinard  has 


CONSANGUINEOUS  MARRIAGES  251 

contended,  the  crosses  of  related  peoples  or  races  may  be  advan- 
tageous, while  the  union  of  the  more  distinct  races,  such  as  white 
and  negro,  may  result  in  a  very  undesirable  product.  This  is 
quite  possible  if  not  probable,  and  has  the  support  of  numerous 
analogies  among  plants  and  animals.  But  it  would  be  possible  to 
support  almost  any  conclusion  on  race  crossing  by  an  appeal  to 
such  analogies.  Those  who  condemn  race  mixtures  point  to  the 
inferiority  of  many  mongrel  breeds  and  the  infertility  of  crosses 
between  distantly  related  stocks,  while  the  advocates  of  mis- 
cegenation refer  to  the  benefits  that  have  so  often  resulted  from 
crossing  different  varieties.  Our  only  recourse  in  such  a  case  is 
the  study  of  the  actual  facts. 

It  is  sometimes  stated  that  the  hybrids  between  distinct  races 
must  have  a  relatively  inharmonious  constitution  containing 
many  incongruous  hereditary  tendencies.  But  the  grounds  for 
this  are  largely  a  priori.  The  mule  is  a  very  valuable  animal  with 
an  unusually  efi&cient  organization  notwithstanding  the  marked 
differences  of  the  horse  and  the  ass.  There  are  many  crosses 
between  forms  more  closely  related  which  are  poor  and  weak 
products  that  cannot  be  compared  with  the  tough  organization 
of  this  familiar  beast  of  burden.  How  characters  of  different 
types  will  harmonize  cannot  be  told  until  they  are  combined  in  a 
cross. 

With  the  varied  considerations  which  may  prejudice  opinions 
to  say  nothing  of  the  differences  presented  by  the  observed  facts 
in  different  parts  of  the  world,  it  is  not  surprising  that  students  of 
race  mixture  should  have  arrived  at  opposed  conclusions.  The 
sociologist  Novicow^  sings  the  praises  of  miscegenation  as  loudly 
as  other  writers  have  condemned  it.  "II  est  connu  qu'une  race 
s'abatardit  par  les  unions  consanguines  et  qu'elle  s'ameliore  par 
les  croisements.  .  .  .  Les  croisements  sont  done  indispensables 
pour  soutenir  et  augmenter  la  vigueur  d'une  race.  .  .  .  Les 
croisements  sont  d'une  utilite  si  incontestable  qu'il  faudra  les 
favoriser  le  plus  possible.  De  nous  jours  encore,  nombre  de 
societes  non  seulement  barbares  mais  meme  civilizees,  tachent 
1  Les  lutlcs  mire  les  societes  huviaines,  pp.  201-204. 


252         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

d'entraver  les  croisements.  Elles  se  causent  a  elles-memes  le 
plus  grand  de  tous  les  maux:  rabatardissement  de  la  race." 

In  Ploss-Bartel's  monumental  work,  Das  Weib,  it  is  stated  that 
race  mixture  in  general  increases  the  beauty  of  the  female  sex, 
a  statement  in  which  he  is  supported  by  Reibmayer  {Inzucht  und 
Vermischung  beim  Menschen,  p.  64).  Boas  says  that  "observa- 
tions on  half-breed  Indians  show  that  a  type  taller  than  either 
parental  race  develops  in  the  mixed  blood ;  that  the  fertility  of  the 
mixed  blood  is  unexceeded ;  and  that  I  cannot  find  any  evidence 
that  would  corroborate  the  view  so  often  expressed,  that  the  hy- 
brid of  distinct  types  tends  to  degenerate."  E.  Fischer,  who  has 
devoted  an  extensive  study  to  the  Boer-Hottentot  hybrids  of 
South  Africa,  describes  them  as  of  good  vitality,  fertile  and  effi- 
cient, and  presenting  no  evidence  of  deterioration.  According  to 
Hoffmann  the  intermixture  of  native  Hawaiian  women  with  full- 
blooded  Chinese  has  produced  a  physically  and  morally  superior 
type,  and  Dr.  Baelz  maintains  that  the  Japanese-Caucasian  cross 
breeds  are  physically  and  intellectually  the  equals  of  the  mem- 
bers of  either  pure  race. 

With  all  the  opportunity  that  has  been  afforded  for  the  study 
of  negro-white  crosses  it  might  be  supposed  that  the  biological 
status  of  such  mixtures  would  be  well  known.  But  this  is  far  from 
the  case.  The  general  opinion  is  that  the  mulatto  is  inferior  in 
physical  development,  vitality,  and  especially  prone  to  disease. 
Hoffmann  quotes  from  the  report  of  the  Provost  Marshal  Gen- 
eral eleven  statements  of  examining  surgeons  in  the  Civil  War. 
Ten  of  these  express  an  unfavorable  opinion  of  the  physical  con- 
dition of  the  mulatto,  and  in  only  one  instance  was  an  opinion 
given  favorable  to  the  mixed  type  and  that  was  based  on  only 
two  cases  which  made  it  of  no  determining  value.  While  the 
mulatto  is  not  inferior  in  weight  and  is  of  intermediate  height,  his 
lung  capacity  is  less  than  that  of  either  pure  race.  According  to 
Gould,  the  average  lung  capacity  of  white  soldiers  in  the  Civil 
War  was  184.7  cubic  inches;  of  negroes  163.5,  while  in  the  mulatto 
it  was  only  158.9,  The  chest  circumference  was  found  to  be  for 
whites  35.8  inches,  for  negroes  35.1,  and  34.97  for  mixed  breeds.^ 


CONSANGUINEOUS  MARRIAGES 


253 


These  diflferences  are  correlated  with  differences  in  the  number  of 
respirations  per  minute  which  are  as  follows:  whites  16.4,  negroes 
17.7  and  mulattoes  19.  Gould  gives  results  on  cranial  measure- 
ments as  follows:  circumference  of  head,  22.1  in.  in  whites,  21.9  in 
negroes,  22.0  in  mulattoes.  Dr.  S.  B.  Hunt  ^  has  shown  that  the 
weight  of  the  brain  in  the  mulatto  increases  with  the  proportion 
of  white  blood  in  his  composition.  The  mulattoes  less  than  half 
white  have,  on  the  average,  a  less  brain  weight  than  the  pure 
negro.    The  results  are  shown  in  the  following  table: 

Brain  Weights  of  Mulattoes 


No.  of  Cases 


24 

25 

47 

51 

95 
22 


Degrees  of  Color 


Weight  of  Brain 


1,475  gm. 
1,390  " 


1,334 


(( 


(( 


1,319 
1,308  " 

1,280  " 


The  figure  for  the  brain  weight  in  whites  based  on  278  other 
cases  is  1,403  gm.  Results  confirmatory  of  these  findings  have 
been  reported  also  by  Topinard. 

In  regard  to  the  fecundity  of  the  mulatto  we  have  varied  opin- 
ions. Morris  {The  Aryan  Race,  p.  216)  tells  us  that  he  "has  the 
weakness  and  infertility  of  the  hybrid."  Nott  finds  that  in 
South  Carolina  the  mulattoes  show  a  decided  infertility,  although 
in  Louisiana  they  are  fairly  prolific.  Woodruff  {Expansion  of 
Races,  p.  251)  states  quite  positively  that  "The  Mulatto  in- 
variably dies  out  unless  new  black  blood  is  infused  into  the 
mixed  race,  and  though  some  families  survive  a  few  generations, 
as  a  rule  there  is  absolute  extinction  of  such  feeble  offspring."^ 

1"  The  Negro  as  a  Soldier."  Anthrop.  Rev.  7,  1869. 

*  As  Prof.  Kelsey  has  remarked  {The  Physical  Basis  of  Society,  p.  298),  "Whenever 
we  are  told  that  a  people  of  mixed  white  and  Negro  blood  must  perish  from  the 
earth  let  us  not  forget  that  across  Africa  in  the  Sudan  and  down  the  East  Coast 
there  are  untold  millions  of  people  of  just  that  descent." 


254 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


On  the  other  hand,  Quatrefages  adduces  evidence  to  show  that 
the  products  of  negro-white  crosses  are  unusually  prolific  and  H. 

E.  Jordan  states  that  "the  mulatto  is  probably  more  prolific  than 
the  normal  average  of  either  white  or  negro.  During  the  past 
twenty  years  he  has  increased  at  twice  the  rate  of  the  negro." 

F.  L.  Hoffmann  who  has  studied  the  subject  in  a  painstaking 
manner  comes  to  perhaps  the  only  justifiable  conclusion  that 
'"the  imperfect  state  of  vital  statistics,  even  at  the  present  time, 
makes  it  difiicult  if  not  impossible  to  settle  scientifically  the  ques- 
tion of  increase  or  decrease  in  fecundity." 

It  is  undeniable  that  since  1850  mulattoes  have  increased 
relatively  faster  than  the  negroes,  as  is  shown  in  the  following 
table: 


Increase  of  Mulattoes  in  the  U.  S. 

Years 

Total 
Negroes 

Blacks 

No.  of 
Mulattoes 

Per  Cent 
Mulattoes 

Mulattoes  to 
1,000  Black 

1850... 
i860.  .  . 
1870.  .  . 
1880.  .  . 
1890.  .  . 
1900.  .  . 
1910.  .  . 

■  3,638,808 

•  4,441,830 
.    4,880,009 

•  6,580,793 
.    7,488,676 

■  8,833,994 

•  9,827,763 

3,233,057 
3,853,467 
4,295,960 

6,337,980 

7,777,077 

405,751 
588,363 
584,049 

1,132,060 
2,050,686 

II  .2 

13-3 
12.0 

152 

20.9 

126 

153 
136 

179 

264 

This  table  does  not  tell  us  anything,  however,  of  the  birth  rate 
of  the  mulattoes  as  compared  with  that  of  the  negroes.  The 
mulattoes  increase  in  number  not  only  through  their  own  birth 
rate,  but  through  the  unions  of  whites  and  negroes,  through  the 
unions  of  whites  and  mulattoes,  and  especially  through  the  unions 
of  mulattoes  and  negroes,  the  children  of  the  latter  unions  being 
usually  counted  as  mulattoes.  Even  if  crosses  of  negroes  and 
whites  are  becoming  less  frequent  the  relative  increase  of  the 
mulattoes  may  be  due  largely  to  negro-white  crosses.  Mulattoes 
are  relatively  more  common  in  the  Northern  States  and  especially 


CONSANGUINEOUS  MARRIAGES  255 

in  the  West,  the  proportion  to  1,000  negroes  being  in  1910,  252  in 
the  South,  363  in  the  North  and  473  in  the  West.  They  are  also 
more  common  in  urban  than  in  rural  communities.  The  decreas- 
ing proportion  of  mulattoes  in  the  North  and  West  which  has 
occurred  recently  is  probably  due  to  the  migration  of  negroes  from 
the  South.  The  urban  negroes  are  often  found  in  the  slums  or 
living  in  close  association  with  the  "tenderloin"  districts  where 
they  mix  with  the  lower  elements  of  the  white  race  and  especially 
with  those  of  foreign  extraction  whose  antipathy  to  persons  of 
color  is  not  so  strong  as  it  is  in  the  native  American. 

There  has  been  considerable  complaint  in  the  South  over  the 
amount  of  miscegenation  that  is  still  going  on.  It  is  not  rare 
for  white  men  to  support  a  colored  mistress,  and  temporary 
associations  between  the  races  are  naturally  much  more  frequent. 
It  is  very  difficult  to  ascertain  to  how  great  an  extent  the  increase 
in  the  number  of  mulattoes  is  due  to  irregular  connections  be- 
tween the  races.  We  know  Httle  of  the  actual  birth  rate  of 
mulattoes  as  distinguished  from  that  of  the  pure  negroes.  And 
consequently  we  can  draw  no  conclusion  as  to  the  natural  fecun- 
dity of  the  products  of  negro-white  crosses. 

That  the  mulattoes  in  Jamaica  do  not  perpetuate  themselves 
has  been  asserted  by  Elwick,  and  a  similar  statement  has  been 
made  by  Dr.  Ivan  for  those  of  Java.  If  these  statements  are 
true — and  they  are  difficult  to  verify, — the  reason  may  well  be 
other  than  the  reduction  of  natural  fecundity.  The  Rehboter 
hybrids  studied  by  Fisher  show  a  high  fecundity.  Their  stock 
resulted  from  the  unions  of  Hottentot  women  and  a  small  band  of 
Dutch,  Germans  and  other  Europeans,  27  in  all,  reinforced  later 
by  a  few  other  Europeans  who  also  married  Hottentot  women  or 
women  of  rrdxed  origin.  The  average  number  of  children  born  to 
the  parents  of  hybrid  origin  was  7.7.  The  death  rate  was  low, 
and  the  stock  was  physically  well  developed.  In  this  isolated 
community  freed  from  the  vicious  environment  under  which 
race  crossing  so  commonly  occurs,  the  union  of  two  distinct  races 
produced  a  healthy  and  rapidly  increasing  stock. 

The  Anglo-Polynesian  hybrids  on  Pitcairn  and  Norfolk  Islands 


256         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

sprang  from  a  small  group  of  nine  Englishmen,  six  Tahitian  men 
and  fifteen  Tahitian  women  who  settled  originally  on  Pitcairn 
Island  in  1790.  In  1855  the  population  which  had  increased  to 
200  removed  to  Norfolk  Island  whose  population  in  1905  num- 
bered 1,059,  most  of  whom  were  descended  from  the  original  set- 
tlers. Sixteen  returned  to  Pitcairn  Island  in  1856  where  they 
rapidly  increased  and  became  a  healthy,  flourishing  people. 

In  his  studies  of  half-breed  Indians,  Boas  states  that  "the 
average  number  of  children  of  five  hundred  and  seventy-seven 
Indian  women  and  of  one  hundred  and  forty-one  half-breed 
women  more  than  forty  years  old  is  5.9  children  for  the  former 
and  7.9  for  the  latter.  It  is  instructive  to  compare  the  number  of 
children  for  each  woman  in  the  two  groups.  While  about  ten  per 
cent  of  the  Indian  women  have  no  children,  only  3.5  per  cent  of 
the  half-breeds  are  childless.  The  proportionate  number  of 
half-bloods  who  have  one,  two,  three,  four  or  five  is  smaller  than 
the  corresponding  number  of  Indian  women,  while  many  more 
half-blood  than  fuU-blood  women  have  had  from  six  to  thirteen 
children." 

That  the  hybrids  between  the  races  of  man  tend  to  sterility 
still  awaits  proof.  We  have  no  adequate  evidence  of  sterility 
even  in  the  hybrids  between  those  races  which  are  most  distantly 
related.  It  has  been  claimed  that  marriages  between  different 
people  of  the  same  race,  such  as  the  Nordic  and  Mediterranean  or 
Alpine  are  relatively  infertile,  but  the  evidence  is  far  from  proving 
that  the  causes  are  physiological  and  not  social.  From  a  study  of 
a  large  number  of  marriages  of  different  European  peoples  Prof. 
A.  E.  Jenks  has  drawn  the  conclusion  that  pure  bred  stock  is  much 
more  fecund  than  cross  bred  stock.  Since  the  conclusion  if  valid 
would  have  a  far-reaching  significance,  it  is  desirable  to  consider 
critically  the  evidence  on  which  it  is  based.  The  material  con- 
sisted of  40,000  famihes  of  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  480  families  of 
Sioux  Falls,  S.  Dak.,  and  95  families  of  Benton  Township,  Lincoln 
Co.,  Minn.  An  enumeration  was  made  of  the  number  of  unmar- 
ried offspring  in  the  families  of  various  nationalities  in  which 
both  parents  came  from  the  same  country  and  also  in  the  families 


CONSANGUINEOUS  MARRIAGES 


257 


in  which  the  parents  came  from  different  countries.    The  results 
are  here  given  in  tabular  form: 


Relative  Fecutidity  of  Pure-Bred  and  Half-Bred  Families  in  Minneapolis 


Pure-Bred  Families 


Group 


1  Dutch 

2  French-Canadian 

3  Irish 

4  Swedish 

5  Norwegian 

6  German 

7  Canadian 

8  Scotch 

9  French 

10  Danish 

11  English , 

12  Welsh 

13  American 

14  Scotch-Irish 


No.  of 
families 


30 
282 

r,022 

4.Q61 

3,028 

3,505 

372 

184 

155 
246 

523 

77 

8,614 

16 


No.  of 
children 


106 

894 

2,670 

12,564 

7.414 

8,559 

838 

411 

334 

509 

1,014 

127 

13,156 

24 


No.  of 
children 

per 
family 


53 
15 
61 

53 
44 
44 
25 
23 
14 
06 
93 
64 
52 
5° 


No.  of 

amalga- 
mating 
groups 


13 
i6 
23 
IS 
22 

3i 
13 

18 
21 
9 
20 
17 
28 
15 


flalf-Bred  Families 


No.  of 
families 


181 

291 

2,100 

2,004 

2,148 

3.S20 

861 

897 

66s 

265 

1,882 

233 

3,859 

229 


No.  of 
children 


331 

627 
4,282 
3.62s 
3.868 
6,23s 
1,670 
1,602 
1,251 

471 
3,252 

399 
6,392 

395 


Average 
children 

per 
family 


■  83 

2 

■  15 

2 

.04 

2 

.81 

2 

.80 

2. 

•77 

2. 

•94 

2. 

.78 

2. 

.88 

2. 

•77 

2. 

72 

2. 

71 

I  . 

66 

I . 

73 

I . 

Expected 

average 


•4 
7 
•4 
■4 
•4 
.  I 
■3 
I 
.  2 
.  I 
.  O 

.8 
9 

.8 


The  differences  between  the  sizes  of  homogamic  and  hetero- 
gamic  marriages  are  striking.  But  are  they  due  to  differences  in 
the  natural  fertility  or  like  and  unlike  unions?  It  is  especially 
noteworthy  that  the  number  of  native  Americans  given  in  the 
table  is  far  greater  than  any  other  nationality.  It  is  also  note- 
worthy that  there  are  great  differences  in  the  size  of  the  families 
among  the  people  in  different  countries, — differences  which  are 
probably  due  to  a  small  extent  to  physiological  causes,  but  are 
mainly  the  result  of  other  factors  which  have  been  discussed  in  a 
previous  chapter.  In  a  marriage  between  a  Dutch  man  or  woman 
and  a  person  of  another  nation  the  chances  are,  other  things 
equal,  that  the  person  would  be  an  American,  owing  to  the  nu- 
merical proponderance  of  the  latter  stock.  Since  the  size  of  the 
American  family  is  notoriously  small,  the  influence  of  American 
custom  would  be  a  strong  element  in  determining  the  number  of 
children  in  the  mixed  marriage.  Persons  from  nationalities  with 
large  families,  if  marrying  outside  their  group,  would  be  apt  to 


258  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

marty  into  a  stock  which  produces  less  children.  Jenks  recognizes 
this  fact  and  has  calculated  the  expected  size  of  the  family  re- 
sulting from  mLxed  marriages. 

In  speaking  of  Dutch  families  he  says  "Not  only  is  the  Dutch 
half-breed  family  much  less  fecund  than  the  Dutch  pure-bred 
family,  but  the  average  for  the  Dutch  half-breed  families  is  notice- 
ably lower  than  the  expected  average  for  said  families.  This 
expected  average  is  computed  from  the  fourteen  ethnic  groups 
composing  the  i8i  Dutch  half-breed  families.  The  expected 
average  is  2.4  children  per  family,  while  the  actual  average  is 
only  1.83  children — the  fact  of  amalgamation  apparently  being 
the  cause  for  reduced  fecundity."  Just  how  the  expected  size  of 
the  family  is  calculated  is  not  explained  in  detail,  but  apparently 
the  author  has  calculated  the  average  fecundity  of  the  stocks  into 
which  any  given  group  marries  and  taken  the  mean  between 
tliis  and  the  average  size  of  the  pure-bred  Dutch  family.  But 
however  he  computes  the  expected  averages  of  cross-bred  families, 
why  can  we  say  that  any  numerical  expression  represents  the 
expected  number  of  children  from  a  given  cross  mating?  The 
proceeding  involves  the  assumption  that  the  size  of  the  families  of 
the  stocks  in  question  is  an  index  of  their  natural  fecundity.  If 
this  is  not  the  case,  the  argument  becomes  vitiated.  If  the  aver- 
age size  of  the  pure-bred  Dutch  families  is  3.53  and  the  size  of  the 
American  family  is  1.52  are  we  justified  in  expecting  that  the 
average  size  of  the  Dutch-American  family  is  the  mean  of  these 
two  numbers,  or  2.5?  Take  a  stock  in  which  birth  restriction  is 
an  ingrained  custom  and  suppose  that  marriages  occur  between 
its  members  and  those  of  a  people  which  does  not  practice  artifi- 
cial restriction  of  the  family.  Who  can  say  what  is  the  "ex- 
pected" number  of  children?  It  seems  not  improbable  that 
the  size  of  the  family  would  be  nearer  that  of  the  stock  with  a  tra- 
dition of  family  limitation,  because  one  member,  at  least,  would 
be  familiar  wdth  the  practice.  There  are  various  social  influences 
also  which  might  affect  the  size  of  the  cross-bred  groups,  and  it  is 
not  improbable  that  those  who  marry  with  people  of  alien  stock 
may  not  be  typical  of  the  general  average  of  their  group.    Much 


CONSANGUINEOUS  MARRIAGES  259 

would  depend  upon  the  stock  into  which  people  are  prone  to 
marry,  but  on  this  we  are  given  no  data. 

It  is  quite  unwarrantable  to  draw  the  conclusion  that  "pure 
bred  and  prepotent  are  practically  synonymous,"  or  that  the 
American  who  is  an  "extremely  amalgamated  group  in  conse- 
quence of  amalgamation  is  a  decidedly  impotent  group."  The 
American  birth  rate  is  low  for  the  reasons  that  have  led  to  the 
reduced  birth  rate  in  France  and  elsewhere.  The  decline  of  the 
birth  rate  in  Europe  has  been  quite  as  rapid  in  countries  whose 
population  is  relatively  homogeneous  as  in  countries  where  there 
has  been  a  great  mixture  of  peoples. 

Jenks  has  studied  the  amount  of  in-marr}ang  and  out-marrying 
in  eight  chief  ethnic  groups  in  Minneapolis  and  finds  that  their 
order  arranged  according  to  increasing  percentage  of  out-mar- 
riages is  as  follows:  Swedes,  Norwegians,  Germans,  Danes, 
Irish,  EngHsh,  Welsh,  Scotch.  "This  series  of  ethnic  groups, 
arranged  in  order  of  decreasing  amalgamation  and  increasing  co- 
hesion from  the  Scotch  to  the  Swedes  is  the  exact  duplicate  of  the 
series  of  the  same  Minneapolis  ethnic  groups  in  order  of  increas- 
ing fecundity,  except  for  the  Irish  and  Scotch  as  seen  in  Table  A. 
It  seems  that  the  most  fecund  ethnic  groups  are  those  least  given 
to  amalgamation,  and  vice  versa."  It  may  be  noted,  however, 
upon  inspecting  the  table,  that  as  a  rule,  where  there  is  a  relatively 
high  fecundity  of  in-marriages  there  is  also  a  relatively  high 
fecundity  of  out-marriages.  As  a  comparison  of  the  relative 
number  of  native  and  foreign  born  among  the  various  ethnic 
groups  shows,  those  groups  composed  mainly  of  foreign  born 
members  have  the  highest  birth  rate  and  (very  naturally)  the 
highest  percentage  of  in-marriages.  These  are  the  groups  which 
must  be  composed  of  relatively  recent  immigrants  who  would 
retain  their  traditional  fecundity.  Where,  as  in  the  Swedes  and 
Norwegians  the  foreign  born  outnumber  the  native  born  members 
of  their  stock  over  two  to  one,  we  should  naturally  expect  the 
birth  rate  to  be  high.  With  the  next  group,  the  Germans,  the 
foreign  born  are  only  a  little  less  hi  number  than  the  native  born 
(5,988  to  4,111).    With  the  Irish,  English,  Welsh  and  Scotch  the 


26o  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

native  bom  are  greatly  in  excess.  Denmark  occupies  an  anoma- 
lous position  in  that  most  of  her  people  were  foreign  born.  We 
should  expect  her  to  come  after  the  Irish  and  ahead  of  the  Eng- 
lish, according  to  Jenks  and  to  occupy  a  position  ahead  of  the 
Germans  according  to  the  proportion  of  foreign  bom.  The 
relatively  large  number  of  out-marriages  considering  the  probably 
recent  arrival  of  her  immigrants  is  perhaps  due  to  the  compara- 
tively small  number  of  Danes  in  the  city.  Where  a  people  is 
represented  by  a  comparatively  few  individuals  the  number  of 
out-marriages  would  naturally  be  high.  The  relatively  high 
fecundity  of  the  Irish,  despite  their  long  sojourn  in  tliis  country 
(as  indicated  by  proportions  of  their  native  bom),  is  probably 
due  to  their  high  percentage  of  Roman  Catholics  as  is  also 
the  case  with  the  French-Canadians. 

Recency  of  arrival  is  probably  a  potent  factor  in  determining 
the  size  of  the  family  and  the  amount  of  intermarriage  in  the 
various  stocks  represented  in  the  city  of  Minneapolis.  This 
conclusion  is  aU  the  more  probable  since  the  birth  rate  of  the 
foreign  stocks  in  Minneapolis  does  not  show  a  close  correspond- 
ence with  the  birth  rate  of  these  stocks  in  their  native  countries. 
Those  stocks  which  have  the  largest  percentage  of  American  born 
of  one  or  more  generations  show,  as  a  rule,  both  the  highest 
number  of  out-marriages  and  the  lowest  birth  rate.  The  out- 
marriages, with  a  few  exceptions  due  probably  to  the  small 
numbers  represented,  are  more  frequent  in  all  groups  among  the 
first  generation  of  American  bom  than  in  the  foreign  born,  and 
greater  in  the  third  generation  than  in  the  second  or  first.  The 
most  mixed  groups,  are  as  a  rule,  the  groups  having  the  largest 
proportions  of  older  immigrant  stock;  they  are  the  most  Ameri- 
canized, and  their  birth  rate  is  also  low,  not  because  they  are  of 
mixed  blood,  but  because  they  have  become  most  thoroughly 
imbued  with  our  traditions.  As  so  frequently  happens  when  one 
is  dealing  with  demographical  statistics,  the  conclusion  which 
seems  at  first  to  follow  is  not  borne  out  by  a  more  critical  ex- 
amination of  the  evidence.  We  have  as  yet  insufficient 
grounds  for  concluding  that  race  mixture  or  the  mingling  of 


CONSANGUINEOUS   MARRIAGES  261 

inter-racial  groups  is  followed  by  any  reduction  of  natural 
fecundity. 

What  can  we  say  of  the  effects  of  race-mLxture  on  mental 
development?  We  have  no  grounds  for  alleging  that  the  products 
of  mingling  the  various  ethnic  stocks  of  Europe  are  in  any  way 
inferior  to  their  component  elements.  Certainly  it  would  be  easy 
to  compile  a  very  extensive  list  of  most  eminent  men  of  mixed 
ethnic  origin.  There  is  no  adequate  evidence  for  concluding  that 
hybrids  even  of  distinct  races  are  mentally  less  developed  than 
the  average  of  the  inferior  race.  In  general,  experience  seems  to 
show  that  they  possess  a  degree  of  intelligence  more  or  less  inter- 
mediate between  that  of  the  races  from  which  they  are  derived. 
Where  there  has  been  much  intermingling  of  races  of  different 
cultural  levels  the  mixed  breeds  tend  to  occupy  a  relatively 
advanced  position. 

The  best  opportunities  for  the  study  of  mentality  of  a  mixed 
race  are  afforded  by  the  mulattoes  of  the  United  States.  Most 
students  of  the  subject  agree  that  the  mulatto  is  considerably 
superior  in  intellect  to  the  full-blooded  negro,  however  they  may 
explain  this  superiority.  From  a  study  of  the  achievements  of 
mulattoes  and  negroes  by  E.  B.  Reuter  I  quote  the  following: 

In  a  recently  published  compilation  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine 
of  the  supposedly  best-known  American  Negroes  there  are  not  more 
than  four  men  of  pure  Negro  blood,  and  one  of  these,  at  least,  owes  his 
prominence  to  the  fact  of  his  black  skin  and  African  features  rather 
than  to  any  demonstrated  native  superiority.  Of  the  twelve  Negroes 
on  whom  the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy  has  been  conferred  by 
reputable  American  Universities,  eleven  at  least  were  men  of  mixed 
blood.  Among  the  professional  classes  of  the  race  the  mulattoes  out- 
class the  black  Negroes  perhaps  ten  to  one,  and  the  ratio  is  yet  higher 
if  only  men  of  real  attainments  be  considered.  In  medicine  the  ratio 
is  probably  fifteen  to  one,  in  literature  the  ratio  is  somewhat  higher, 
on  the  stage  it  is  probably  thirteen  to  one,  in  music  the  ratio  is  at 
least  twelve  to  one.  In  art  no  American  Negro  of  full  blood  has  so  far 
found  a  place  among  the  successful.  .  .  . 

The  successful  business  men  of  the  race  are  in  nearly  all  cases  raen 


262  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

of  bi-racial  ancestry.  ...  In  all  times  in  the  history  of  the  American 
Negro  and  in  all  fields  of  human  effort  in  which  the  Negroes  have 
entered,  the  successful  individuals,  with  very  few  exceptions,  have 
been  mulattoes.  .  .  . 

In  South  Africa  the  mulattoes  are  on  a  distinctly  higher  cultural 
level  than  are  the  natives  of  unmixed  blood.  In  the  British  West 
Indies  the  more  cultured  mulattoes  have  been  formed  into  a  middle 
class  group,  separated  from  and  superior  to  the  black  peasantry.  .  .  . 

In  North  Brazil  the  mixed-blood  group  of  Portuguese,  Indian  and 
Negro  ancestry  are  on  a  distinctly  higher  social  and  intellectual 
plane  than  are  either  the  Negroes  or  the  native  Indians.  ...  In  the 
Philippines  the  half-castes  of  Chinese-Moro,  as  well  as  those  of  Spanish- 
Moro,  origin  are  well  in  advance,  intellectually,  of  the  pure-blood 
natives.  Every  man  in  the  Filipino  group  who  has  risen  above 
mediocrity  under  the  Spanish,  as  under  the  American,  occupancy  of 
the  islands  has  been  a  man  of  bi-racial  ancestry. 

While  admitting  that  the  simplest  explanation  of  the  superior- 
ity of  the  mulatto  is  that  it  is  due  to  the  infusion  of  a  superior 
mental  inheritance  from  the  white  race,  the  author  holds  that  this 
does  not  account  for  all  of  the  superiority,  and  attempts  to  work 
out  another  interpretation  of  the  results  based  on  the  assumption 
that  the  black  and  the  white  races  are  essentially  equal  in  native 
intelligence.  Mulattoes,  it  is  claimed,  enjoyed  superior  advan- 
tages during  the  period  of  slavery  and  afterward,  but  the  chief 
cause  of  their  superiority  is  the  fact  that  "from  the  Negro  side 
the  mulattoes  are  descended  from  the  best  of  the  race." 

"The  choicest  females  of  the  black  group  became  the  mothers 
of  a  race  of  half-breeds.  The  female  offspring  of  these  mixed 
unions  became  chosen  in  turn  to  serve  the  pleasure  of  the  superior 
group.  By  this  process  of  repeated  selection  of  the  choice  girls  of 
the  black  and  mulatto  group  to  become  mothers  of  a  new  genera- 
tion of  mixed-blood  individuals,  there  has  been  a  constant  force 
making  for  the  production  of  a  choicer  and  choicer  type  of  fe- 
male." Thus  a  process  of  marriage  selection  is  instituted  which 
the  author  thinks  goes  far  toward  explauiing  the  intellectual 
superiority  of  the  mixed  type. 


CONSANGUINEOUS  MARRIAGES  263 

All  this  seems  like  a  desperate  attempt  to  avoid  a  perfectly 
natural  and  almost  obvious  conclusion.  The  doctrine  of  the 
mental  equality  of  black  and  white  does  not  commend  itself  to 
most  of  those  who  have  had  much  experience  with  the  colored 
race,  and  it  is  contradicted  by  the  results  of  a  number  of  studies 
on  the  intelligence  of  whites  and  blacks  by  the  application  of 
mental  tests  as  is  in  fact  admitted  by  Renter.  ^ 

Much  of  course  remains  to  be  done  before  a  precise  comparison 
of  the  mental  status  of  the  races  of  man  can  be  made.  If  there  has 
been  a  selection  of  the  better  negro  types  in  the  production  of  the 
negro-white  crosses  there  is  even  more  evidence  that  the  white 
parents  are  not  to  be  considered  as  representing  a  very  high  aver- 
age type  of  their  race.  Even  granting  that  during  slavery  the 
best  negro  women  were  more  apt  to  become  the  mothers  of  mu- 
lattoes,  it  cannot  be  contended  that  this  was  true  after  emancipa- 
tion when  more  mulattoes  were  produced  than  at  any  previous 
time.  Since  the  Civil  War  the  mulattoes  were  apt  to  be  the  prod- 
uct of  the  worst  elements  of  both  races.  Hoffmann  collected 
information  concerning  37  black-white  unions  of  which  eight 
were  white  men  living  with  negro  women  and  29  were  those  of 
white  women  living  with  negro  men.  Of  the  eight  white  men 
living  with  negro  women  "three  were  criminals  or  under  strong 
suspicion  of  being  such.  .  .  .  The  others  were  more  or  less 
outcasts.  One  was  a  saloon  keeper,  one  had  deserted  his  family 
for  his  negro  mistress,  two  were  men  of  good  family  but  them- 
selves of  bad  reputation."  The  record  of  the  twenty-nine  women 
married  to  or  living  with  colored  men  was  still  worse.  And  of  the 
twenty-nine  colored  men  living  with  white  women,  "only  one, 
an  industrious  barber,  was  known  to  be  of  good  character." 

The  number  of  cases  is  small,  as  Hoffmann  states.  "It  is  my 
own  opinion,"  he  says,  "based  on  personal  observation  in  the 
cities  of  the  South  that  the  individuals  of  both  races  who  inter- 
marry or  live  in  concubinage  are  vastly  inferior  to  the  average 

^  In  his  recent  valuable  book  on  The  Mulatto,  Prof.  Reuter  has  brought  together 
much  additional  evidence  of  the  mental  superiority  of  the  mulatto  to  the  negro. 
The  cause  of  this  superiority  is  not  discussed  in  detail. 


264  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

types  of  the  white  and  colored  races  in  the  United  States;  also 
that  the  class  of  white  men  who  have  intercourse  with  cobred 
women  are,  as  a  rule,  of  an  inferior  t^-pe."  Those  familiar  with 
the  life  and  ways  of  negroes  and  mulattoes  especially  in  our 
cities  where  the  mulattoes  are  relatively  abundant  will  be  in- 
clined to  agree  that  the  facts  stated  by  Hoffman  represent  more 
nearly  the  typical  kinds  of  black-white  matings  that  occur  and 
have  occurred  since  the  Civil  War,  than  the  theories  of  Renter 
as  to  how  they  might  have  occurred.  If  there  is  enough  ability 
in  the  selected  negro  stock  to  account  for  the  superiority  of  the 
mulatto  when  mated  with  ordinary  white  parentage  we  should 
certainly  find  a  considerable  number  of  cases  in  which  both  black 
parents  were  of  a  superior  t}pe  and  who  would  be  expected  to 
produce  offspring  at  least  the  equal  of  the  better  mulattoes. 
Pure  blacks  of  proven  native  ability  of  high  order  are  in  fact 
rare.  The  fact  that  mulattoes,  despite  their  relatively  inferior 
white  parentage,  are  in  all  countries,  superior  to  the  blacks,  is 
strongly  indicative  of  a  marked  difference  in  the  average  in- 
tellectual capacity  of  the  two  races. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  point  out  that  the  intellectual 
superiority  of  the  mulatto  over  the  negro  affords  no  sufficient 
ground  for  advocating  the  amalgamation  of  the  negro  and  white 
races.  If  the  mulatto  has  a  better  mind  than  the  negro,  he  is 
apparently  inferior  to  him  in  physique  and  is  inferior  in  every  way 
to  the  whites.  Any  system  of  cross  breeding  which  means  the 
substitution  of  mulatto  for  white  children  cannot  be  viewed  as 
anything  but  a  serious  menace.  It  is  to  be  condemned,  not  only 
from  the  biological  standpoint,  but  because  it  would  lead  to  social 
and  moral  deterioration.  To  say  that  negro-white  crosses  are 
imdesirable  on  biological  grounds,  however,  is  not  to  assert  that 
race  crossing  is  bad  per  se.  If  races  are  on  the  same  level  of 
inherent  physical  and  intellectual  endowment  their  fusion  may 
produce  a  very  desirable  combination  of  qualities  and  might 
give  rise  to  a  diversity  of  traits  which  would  be  socially  valuable. 
We  have  insufficient  grounds  for  condemning  crosses  of  races  or 
peoples  per  se,  but  only  those  crosses  which  substitute  an  inter- 


CONSANGUINEOUS  MARRIAGES  265 

mediate  product  for  the  most  highly  endowed  stock.  It  is  the 
very  best  inheritance  that  should  be  conserved  at  all  costs.  Out 
of  it  come  the  rare  minds  that  rise  like  mountain  peaks  above  the 
general  level  of  humanity.  And  it  is  to  these  minds,  small  in 
number,  but  incalculably  great  in  influence,  that  advancement  in 
civilization  and  culture  is  largely  due. 

I  caimot  close  this  chapter  without  a  few  remarks  on  the 
increasing  fusion  of  racial  elements  and  the  possible  eventual 
outcome  of  this  process.  As  the  human  species  became  dispersed 
into  various  quarters  of  the  globe  it  became  more  and  more 
divided  into  isolated  groups.  Given  a  heterozygous  stock,  isola- 
tion would  of  itself  afford  a  condition  under  which  the  race  would 
be  broken  up  into  varieties  through  the  influence  of  segregate 
breeding.  As  a  result  of  spreading  into  regions  of  different  climatic 
and  other  environmental  conditions,  the  race  would  also  tend 
to  become  modified  in  different  ways  through  the  action  of 
natural  selection.  In  the  early  periods  of  the  history  of  man  when 
he  was  spreading  over  and  becoming  adapted  to  the  diverse 
regions  of  the  earth,  the  predominant  trend  of  development  was 
toward  divergence.  The  result  is  a  multiplicity  of  groups  within 
groups,  which  ethnologists  are  still  far  from  having  arranged  in  a 
satisfactory  system  of  classification. 

For  long  periods  and  with  increasing  frequency  as  mankind 
has  advanced,  there  have  been  migrations,  conflicts  and  inter- 
mixtures of  previously  differentiated  peoples.  But  at  the  present 
time,  when  railroads  and  steamships,  to  say  nothing  of  other 
conveniences  of  travel  and  communication,  are  bringing  races  into 
closer  and  closer  contact,  the  process  of  race  fusion  goes  on  at  an 
accelerated  pace.  Many  of  the  old  barriers  of  religion  and  na- 
tional or  sectional  prejudice  are  breaking  down.  People  of  minor 
racial  distinctions  such  as  those  of  the  countries  of  Europe  are 
rapidly  commingling  their  blood  and  over  large  areas  such  as 
South  America,  parts  of  Africa  and  Asia  and  in  numerous  islands 
of  the  Pacific  there  is  an  extensive  blending  of  distinct  races.  If 
in  the  early  history  of  mankind  development  was  along  diverging 
lines  it  is  now  proceeding  more  conspicuously  and  rapidly  in  the 


266         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

reverse  direction.  Will  the  outcome  be,  as  some  think  it  will, 
the  ultimate  fusion  of  all  races  into  one?  As  Metcalf  remarks, 
"The  amalgamation  of  the  races  of  man  into  one  race  as  homog- 
eneous as  the  present  European  population  will  doubtless  take  a 
few  thousand  years  to  accomplish,  but  as  far  as  we  can  judge  from 
tlie  conditions  now  existing  and  those  seemingly  necessarily  about 
to  come,  such  union  of  the  races  seems  inevitable." 

It  is  evident  that  the  intercommunication  between  races  will 
in  the  future  increase  rather  than  decrease,  and  it  is  probable  that 
amalgamation  of  races  will  go  on  more  rapidly  than  before.  The 
superior  races  may  take  more  efficient  means  to  protect  them- 
selves from  the  infusion  of  inferior  blood,  but  among  the  less 
advanced  races  and  peoples  intermingling  seems  destined  to  wipe 
out  the  individuality  of  many  existing  stocks.  The  distinct 
races  will  doubtless  become  narrowed  down  to  a  relatively  small 
number,  and  what  diversity  remains  will  be  maintained  either 
through  conscious  efforts  to  retain  racial  integrity,  or  the  action 
of  climate  or  other  conditions  which  will  tend  to  keep  certain 
parts  of  the  earth  in  possession  of  those  races  which  are  especially 
adapted  to  thrive  there.  The  tropics  are  apparently  unsuited  for 
continuous  habitation  by  the  white  man.  The  diseases  which 
have  tended  to  exclude  the  Caucasian  may  all  in  time  be  con- 
quered. But  there  will  always  remain  the  outstanding  factor  of 
cHmate  which,  in  the  long  run,  proves  to  be  a  very  effective 
barrier  to  the  expansion  of  races.  It  is  not  improbable  that  large 
parts  of  tropical  Africa  will  have  to  be  left  permanently  in  the 
hands  of  the  negro  race.  On  the  other  hand,  the  black  race  does 
not  thrive  in  northern  latitudes.  It  would  be  absurd  to  assume 
that  each  part  of  the  globe  is  inhabited  by  the  racial  elements 
which  are  best  adapted  to  them;  nevertheless  there  are  certain 
broad,  general  adjustments  which  have  doubtless  largely  deter- 
mined the  ubiety  of  the  chief  racial  subdivisions  of  the  human 
species.  With  the  breaking  up  of  old  racial  boundaries  there  may 
be  effected  a  redistribution  of  ethnic  stocks  so  that  they  will  be 
more  closely  associated  with  climatic  zones.  Racial  distinctions 
may  then  be  permanently  kept  if  they  are  favored  by  differences 


CONSANGUINEOUS  MARRIAGES  267 

of  temperature  and  other  environmental  factors.  The  tendency 
toward  universal  amalgamation  may  be  held  in  check  by  natural 
selection  which  will  keep  up  racial  distinctions  which  are  corre- 
lated with  climatic  adaptation.  What  the  final  result  of  these 
opposed  tendencies  will  be  no  one  can  foretell. 

REFERENCES 

Adrian,  C.  Die  Rolle  der  Consanguinitat  der  Eltem  in  der  Aetiologie  einiger 
Dermatosen  der  Nachkommen.    Dermat.  Zentrlbl.  9,  No.  9,  1906. 

Amer,  G.  B.  L.  Consanguineous  Marriages  in  the  American  Popularion.  Columbia 
Univ.  Studies  in  Hist.  Econ.  and  Pub.  Law.  31,  No.  3,  1908,  pp.  99. 

Bemiss,  S.  M.  On  Marriages  of  Consanguinity.  N.  Am.  Med.  Chirurg.  Rev., 
Jan.,  1857;  also  in  Jour.  Psych.  Med.  and  Med.  Path.  n.  s.  1857,  368-379, 
London.    See  also  Trans.  Am.  Med.  Ass.  11,  319-425,  1858. 

Boas,  F.  The  Half-Blood  Indians:  An  Anthropometric  Study.  Pop.  Sci.  Mon. 
761-770,  1894;  Race  Problems  in  America.    Science,  n.  s.  29,  839-949,  1909. 

Darwin,  G.  H.  Marriages  Between  First  Cousins  in  England  and  their  Effects. 
Jour.  Roy.  Stat.  Soc.  38,  153-182,  1875;  Discussion,  183-4;  Note  on  the  Mar- 
riages of  First  Cousins,  1.  c.  38,  344-348,  1875. 

Davenport,  C.  B.  State  Laws  Limiting  Marriage  Selection.  BuU.  Eugen.  Rec. 
Off.  9,  1913. 

Feer,  E.  Der  Einfluss  der  Blutverwandtschaft  der  Eltern  auf  die  Kinder.  S. 
Karger,  Berlin,  1907,  pp.  32. 

Fehlinger,  H.  Kreuzungen  beim  Menschen.  Arch.  Rass.  Ges.  Biol.  8,  447-457, 
191 1. 

Finch,  E.  The  Effects  of  Racial  Miscegenation.  Papers  on  Inter-Racial  Problems, 
ed.  by  G.  Spiller,  108-112,  191 1. 

Fischer,  E.  Die  Rehbother  Bastards  'und  das  Bastardierungsproblem  beim  Men- 
schen, G.  Fischer,  Jena,  1913;  Das  Problem  der  Rassenkreuzung  beim  Men- 
schen, Freiburg  i.  B.  1914,  p.  30,  also  Die  Naturwissenschaften,  17,  Oct.,  1913. 

Hoffman,  F.  L.  Race  Traits  and  Tendencies  of  the  American  Negro.  Pubs.  Am. 
Econ.  Ass.  II,  1-329.    Macmillan  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1896. 

Huth,  A.  H.    The  Marriage  of  Near  Kin,  2d  ed.,  London,  1887. 

Jenks,  A.  E.  Ethnic  Amalgamation.  Holmes  Anniversary  Volume,  228-240, 
Washington,  19 15. 

Jordan,  H.  E.  The  Biological  Status  and  Social  Worth  of  the  Mulatto.  Pop.  Sci. 
Mon.  82,  573-582,  1913. 

Kraus,  F.  Consanguinity  in  Marriage  and  its  Effects  on  the  Offspring.  In  Senator 
and  Kaminers,  Health  and  Disease  in  Relation  to  Marriage,  N.  Y.,  2  vols., 
1904-05. 

Laurent,  E.    Mariages  Consanguins  et  Degenerescences.    Paris,  1895. 

Nettleship,  E.    Consanguineous  Marriages.    Eugen.  Rev.  130-139,  1914. 

Quatrefages,  A.  de.    The  Human  Species.    Appleton  and  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1879. 

Reuter,  E.  B.  The  Superiority  of  the  Mulatto.  .\m.  Jour.  Soc.  23,  83-106,  1917; 
The  Mulatto  in  the  United  States.    R.  Badger,  Boston,  1918. 


268 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE  1 


Rohleder,  H.    Die  Zengung  unter  Blutsverwandten,  Bd.  2  of  Monographien  uber  i 

die  Zengung  beim  Menschen,  Leipzig,  191 2. 

Spiller,  G.    (Editor)  Papers  on  Inter-racial  Problems.    P.  S.  King  and  Son,  Lon- 
don, 191 1. 

Voisin,  A.    Contribution  a  I'Histoire  des  Manages  entre  Consanguins.    Mem.  Soc. 
Anthrop.    Paris,  1865,  2,  433-45Q,  1865.    Reprinted,  Paris,  1866. 

Weinberg,  W.     Verwandtenehe  und  Geisteskrankheit.    Arch.  Ras.  Ges.  Biol.  4, 

47i-475>  1907- 
Wilson,  J.  G.    The  Crossing  of  the  Races.    Pop.  Sci.  Mon.  79,  486-495,  191 1. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  POSSIBLE  ROLE  OF  ALCOHOL  AND  DISEASE 
IN  CAUSING  HEREDITARY  DEFECTS 

"There  is  probably  no  biological  problem  of  greater  interest  and 
importance,  and  about  which  less  is  known,  than  that  of  the  causation 
of  germinal  variations — whether  of  a  progressive  or  retrogressive 
nature." — ^Tredgold,  Mental  Deficiency. 

In  attempting  to  estimate  the  factors  of  evolution,  whether 
in  man  or  in  the  lower  forms  of  life,  we  must  of  necessity  face  the 
problem  of  the  causes  of  variability.  Important  as  this  subject 
is  for  evolutionary  theory  as  well  as  many  practical  problems 
in  experimental  breeding,  it  has  received  surprisingly  little 
attention  from  students  of  biology.  Darwin,  who  studied  varia- 
tion most  exhaustively,  and  who  amassed  a  great  wealth  of  facts 
concerning  the  variations  of  animals  and  plants,  threw  little  light 
upon  the  problem  beyond  pointing  out  the  probability  that 
"variability  of  every  kind  is  directly  or  indirectly  caused  by 
changed  conditions  of  life."  Domestication,  especially  if  long 
continued,  appears  to  enhance  variability.  In  common  with 
Andrew  Knight,  Schleiden  and  others  Darwin  held  that  excess  of 
food  is  one  of  the  most  potent  factors  by  which  variations  may  be 
induced.  Much  of  the  variability  due  to  food,  climate,  etc., 
was  attributed  by  him  to  the  inheritance  of  the  somatic  effects 
of  these  agencies, — a  conclusion  with  which  most  geneticists 
would  not  now  agree.  Outer  agencies  were  held  also  to  affect 
the  reproductive  cells,  and  thus  to  cause  variations  which  tend 
to  become  strongly  inherited. 

Germinal  variations  frequently  occur  in  a  haphazard  manner. 
Generally  no  specific  cause  can  be  assigned  for  their  appearance. 
When  a  hairless  dog,  a  navel  orange,  or  a  ruimerless  strawberry 
arises  all  we  can  say  is  that  such  events  just  happened.  If  con- 
genital variations  arise  as  a  response  of  the  germ  plasm  to  stimuli, 

269 


270         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

we  have  made  practically  no  progress  in  ascertaining,  in  any  form, 
whatever  relation  may  exist  between  the  nature  of  the  variation 
and  the  kind  of  external  stimulus  by  which  it  is  evoked. 

A  large  part  of  the  congenital  variations  that  appear  in  organ- 
isms are  mere  products  of  the  mingling  of  factor  differences  con- 
tained in  the  germ  cells  of  the  parents.  Where  such  variations 
are  not  obviously  the  expression  of  typical  Mendelian  inheritance 
they  are  frequently  explicable  as  unusual  factor  combinations 
which  are  nevertheless  essentially  MendeHan.  Certain  variations 
may  perhaps  be  attributable  to  the  loss  of  factors  and  others  to 
the  reduplication  of  one  or  more  factors,  as  the  result  of  some 
anomalous  behavior  of  the  germ  plasm,  such  as  occurred  in  the 
mutant  (Enothera  gigas  and  several  other  similar  cases.  But  all 
such  variations  as  these  are  probably  of  minor  significance  in 
relation  to  the  general  problem  of  progressive  evolution.  They 
are  the  results  of  the  shufiing  of  the  cards,  and  at  best  they  can 
produce  only  new  combinations  of  old  factors. 

There  are  writers  (Lotsy,  Hagedoorn)  who  hold  that  the  kinds 
of  variations  just  alluded  to  are  the  only  ones  of  which  we  have 
any  evidence.  But  if  we  admit  the  existence  of  this  kind  of 
variability  only,  we  are  landed  in  serious  difficulties.  There  is 
certainly  no  adequate  reason  for  denying  that  variation  is  a  real 
phenomenon  dependent  upon  qualitative  changes  in  the  germ 
plasm.  Many  cases  are  known  in  which  the  appearance  of  new 
mutants  is  in  all  probability  dependent  upon  such  quaHtative 
germinal  variations.  But  with  few  exceptions  their  occurrence 
seems  entirely  fortuitous  and  we  can  form  no  conjecture  as  to 
their  possible  cause. 

There  is  a  certain  amount  of  experimental  evidence  that 
germinal  modifications  may  be  evoked  by  environmental  agen- 
cies. The  experiments  of  Tower  on  the  production  of  mutants  in 
the  Colorado  potato  beetle,  and  the  work  of  MacDougal  and 
Gager  in  inducing  mutations  in  (Enothera  and  other  plants  by 
salt  solutions  and  radium  are  among  the  few  investigations  on 
multicellular  organisms  which  have  yielded  positive  indications  of 
germinal  response  to  changes  in  the  environment. 


ALCOHOL,  DISEASE,  AND  HEREDITARY  DEFECTS    271 

Much  of  our  data  on  this  problem  is  derived  from  observations 
on  the  supposed  effect  of  alcohol  and  other  injurious  substances 
on  the  offspring  of  animals  or  human  beings  subjected  to  these 
influences.  In  the  experiments  of  Hodge  and  of  Pforringer  on 
dogs,  and  of  Laitenen  on  rabbits  and  guinea  pigs  the  animals  were 
given  alcohol  during  pregnancy  and  the  number  of  stillborn  or 
imperfect  young  was  unusually  high.  Of  the  three  dogs  used  in 
the  experiments  of  Hodge  one  died  during  parturition.  After  the 
two  others  had  produced  several  stillborn  or  abnormal  young  the 
alcohol  was  discontinued.  In  both  cases  the  litters  which  were 
born  after  alcohol  was  no  longer  given  were  mostly  dead.  Where 
there  is  an  opportunity  for  the  foetus  to  be  affected  directly  by 
alcohol  in  the  mother's  blood  there  is  no  evidence  of  any  truly 
hereditary  effect.  If  alcoholized  mothers  continued  to  produce 
defective  young  after  the  use  of  alcohol  is  withdrawn,  the  result 
may  still  be  due  to  the  direct  effect  of  the  injury  sustained  by 
the  mother. 

There  have  been  some  experiments  on  the  direct  effect  of 
alcohol  on  the  germ  cells.  Miss  Torelle  has  studied  the  influence 
of  alcohol  on  the  sperm  cells  of  the  starfish.  She  found  that 
small  amounts  of  alcohol  added  to  a  sea  water  containing  the 
sperm  cells  did  not  diminish  their  vitaHty  and  when  eggs  were 
fertilized  by  these  sperms  they  developed  rather  better  than  the 
controls.  Ivanow  treated  the  sperms  of  the  rat,  sheep,  dog, 
rabbit  and  guinea  pig  with  alcohol  up  to  as  high  as  seven  per  cent. 
The  females  artificially  impregnated  with  these  sperm  cells 
brought  forth  a  normal  and  vigorous  progeny.  In  the  mature 
condition  Ivanow  infers  that  sperm  cells  are  quite  resistant  to 
alcohol.  This  should  render  us  rather  skeptical  about  the  sad 
havoc  alleged  to  be  produced  in  human  offspring  by  paternal 
drunkenness  at  the  time  of  conception.  The  sperms  already 
isolated  from  any  organic  connection  with  the  rest  of  the  body, 
and  relatively  resistant,  would  probably  be  less  affected  than 
at  any  previous  time.  The  experiments  of  Gee  showed  that 
spermatozoa  of  fishes  were  relatively  uninjured  by  alcohol  up  to 
strengths  which  were  nearly  fatal  to  them.     However,  with 


272         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

alcohol  of  just  the  proper  strength,  the  spermatozoa  could  be 
injured  so  that  eggs  fertilized  by  them  developed  in  an  abnormal 
manner. 

While  most  of  the  experiments  on  the  hereditary  influence 
of  alcohol  in  animals  are  singularly  lacking  in  conclusiveness, 
the  recent  work  on  guinea  pigs  by  Stockard  in  collaboration  with 
Craig  and  Papanicolaou  has  afforded  data  of  a  much  more  con- 
vincing sort.  The  animals  used  were  first  mated  and  shown 
to  be  capable  of  producing  normal  offspring  before  they  were 
subjected  to  alcohol,  and  only  healthy  and  fertile  stock  was 
employed.  For  six  days  per  week  the  guinea  pigs  were  subjected 
to  the  fumes  of  alcohol  until  they  began  to  show  signs  of  intox- 
ication, although  they  were  never  allowed  to  become  completely 
intoxicated.  After  this  treatment  was  continued  for  some  time 
the  animals  were  mated.  Normal  males  were  mated  with  alco- 
holized females  and  vice  versa;  and  there  were  also  matings  of 
alcoholized  males  with  alcoholized  females. 

Out  of  ninety  matings  of  normal  females  with  alcoholized 
males  thirty-seven  gave  negative  results  or  early  abortions;  ten 
of  the  litters  from  the  other  matings  were  stillborn,  and  out  of  the 
forty-three  litters  containing  living  young,  about  thirty-five  lived 
but  a  few  days,  while  the  survivors,  forty-seven  in  number, 
contained  many  small  and  defective  individuals. 

In  thirty-three  matings  between  normal  males  and  alcoholized 
females  seven  gave  negative  results.  Four  produced  only  still- 
born young,  and  of  the  young  from  the  twenty-two  Hving  litters, 
twenty-three  died  soon  after  birth.  When  both  parents  were 
subjected  to  alcohol,  out  of  forty-one  matings  twenty  gave  no 
results,  or  early  abortions.  Fourteen  resulted  in  stillborn  litters, 
and  the  seventeen  living  litters  contained  only  twenty-six  young 
of  which  twelve  died  soon  after  birth. 

Contrasted  with  the  foregoing  is  the  outcome  of  ninety  matings 
of  normal  guinea  pigs  giving  sixty-six  living  litters  with  ninety- 
nine  surviving  offspring. 

These  results  are  sufficiently  striking,  not  only  because  of  the 
considerable  numbers  of  animals  employed,  but  on  account  of 


ALCOHOL,  DISEASE,  AND  HEREDITARY  DEFECTS    273 

the  very  decided  preponderance  of  sterile  matings  and  stillborn 
or  short-lived  young  in  the  experiments  with  the  alcoholized 
animals.  And  the  results  are  all  the  more  convincing  because 
the  alcoholized  animals  had  been  previously  bred  and  proven 
capable  of  bearing  normal  offspring. 

The  following  table  gives  a  summary  of  results  up  to  1916: 

Effects  of  Alcohol  on  the  Descendants  of  Treated  Animals 


Condition  of  the  animals 

No.  of 
matings 

Neg.  Result 
or  early 
abortion 

Stillborn 
litters 

No.  of 

Stillborn 

young 

Living 
Litters 

Young  dying 

soon  after 

birth 

Total 

dead 

Surviving 
young 

Ale.  cf  X  norm.  9 

Norm,  d^  X  alc.9 

Ale.  c?'  X  ale.  9 

90 
ii 

41 

37 

7 

20 

10 

4 
4 

20 

12 

8 

43 
22 
17 

35 
23 
la 

55 
35 
20 

47 
21 
14 

Summary 

164 

64 

i8 

40 

82 

70 

no 

82 

Control  norm,  cfa;  norm. 9  . 
9  treated  during  pregnacy 

and  gener.  x  norm 

and  gener.  x  ale 

and  gener.  x  2nd  gener 

3rd  gener.  x  3rd  gener 

3rd  gener.  x  2nd  gener 

3rd  gener.  x  norm 

go 
4 
46 
Si 
95 
48 

ii 

17 

3 

iS 

22 

0 

10 

16 

29 

20 

IS 

3 

I 

9 

2 
0 
3 
8 
7 
7 
4 
4 
0 

a 

8 

0 

8 

17 

16 

14 
8 
8 
0 

6 

66 
4 
Z5 
29 
59 
21 

14 

10 

2 

7 

19 

I 

29 
aa 

43 

19 

16 

5 

2 

6 

27 
I 
37 
39 
59 
33 
24 
13 
2 

12 

99 

7 

25 

a8 

52 

13 
7 

7 

I 

4 

3rd  gener.  x  ale 

and,  3rd  gener.  x  2nd,  3rd 
gener 

More  recently  additional  data  were  obtained  in  part  from 
animals  of  unrelated  stock,  but  the  results  only  confirmed  the 
previous  findings.  Some  of  the  general  comparisons  are  shown 
in  the  following  table : 


Progeny  of  Normal  and  Alcoholic  Guinea  Pigs 


Total  number 

Lived  over  3  months 

Aborted,  premature,  stillborn . 

Died  within  3  months 

Total  died 

Defective 

Undersized 


Normal  Lines  Ale.  Lines  Normal  Inhert.  Ale.  Inhert. 


233 

181 

27 

25 

52 
o 
I 


594 
383 
138 

73 
211 

15 


41 

32 

6 

3 
9 
o 

I 


302 
184 
77 
41 
118 
10 
II 


274  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

One  fact  of  much  interest  is  that  guinea  pigs  from  alcoholized 
parents  produce  a  relatively  defective  progeny  even  though  they 
may  not  have  been  given  alcohol  themselves.  ''Animals  as  far  as 
three  generations  removed  from  the  direct  alcohol  treatment  are 
still  differentiated  as  a  group  from  the  control  in  regard  to  the 
weight  of  the  litters  in  which  they  are  born,  the  tendency  of  the 
litters  to  result  in  failure,  the  high  proportion  of  prenatal  mor- 
tality over  postnatal,  and  the  total  mortality  which  is  one  and 
one-half  times  higher  than  the  normal."  Deformities  and  defects 
appear  much  more  commonly  in  the  alcoholic  strains.  Among 
these  were  paralysis  agitans,  opaque  cornea,  cataract  and  opaque 
lenses,  small  defective  eyes,  complete  absence  of  one  eye,  and, 
finally,  complete  absence  of  both  eyeballs.  In  some  cases  there 
were  deformities  of  the  limbs,  albinos,  and  dwarf  forms  with  a  low 
degree  of  vitality.  No  defects  were  noted  in  the  normal  line. 
Defects  sometimes  arose  in  strains  in  which  the  males  only  had 
been  alcoholized,  in  some  cases  the  treatment  having  been  given 
only  to  the  grandparents  or  great-grandparents  of  the  deformed 
animal. 

It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  when  males  alone  are  subjected 
to  alcohol  the  effect  on  the  early  mortality  of  the  offspring  is 
often  very  marked,  although  in  other  respects  the  greatest  injury 
is  done  when  the  females  only  are  treated.  In  the  latter  case 
there  is  opportunity  not  only  for  the  germ  cells  to  become  affected 
so  as  to  produce  a  true  hereditary  change,  but  the  embryo  may  be 
directly  injured  by  the  alcohol  in  the  mother's  blood.  Deteriora- 
tion in  offspring  as  a  result  of  intoxication  of  the  male  parent  can 
scarcely  be  due  to  anything  but  a  change  produced  in  the  germ 
cells.  The  fact  that  defects  thus  arising  may  be  transmitted  to 
further  generations  is  indicative  of  the  production  of  a  true 
hereditary  effect  through  a  modification  of  the  germ  plasm. 

The  investigations  of  Pearl  on  the  hereditary  effects  of  alcohol 
on  the  domestic  fowl  yielded  results  apparently  at  least  opposed 
to  those  obtained  by  Stockard  and  his  co-workers  with  guinea 
pigs.  The  alcohol  was  administered  by  the  inhalation  method. 
The  fowl  subjected  to  alcohol  weighed  on  an  average  less  than 


ALCOHOL,  DISEASE,  AND  HEREDITARY  DEFECTS     275 

the  controls,  and  they  showed  a  reduced  activity,  but  the  mean 
egg  production  of  the  two  groups  was  practically  the  same.  The 
mortality  of  the  treated  fowl  was  less  than  that  of  the  controls. 
But  this  result  may  not  be  significant  on  account  of  the  small 
number  of  individuals  dealt  with.  "The  proportion  of  fertile  eggs 
was  materially  reduced  in  the  matings  in  which  one  or  both 
individuals  had  been  treated.  The  higher  the  germ  dosage  index 
for  the  mating  the  smaller  was  the  percentage  of  fertile  eggs 
found  to  be. 

''The  prenatal  mortality  measured  by  the  percentage  of  em- 
bryos (zygotes)  which  died  before  hatching  to  all  embryos  formed, 
was  materially  smaller  in  the  case  of  offspring  from  matings  in 
which  one  or  both  parent  individuals  were  treated,  than  in  the 
case  of  offspring  from  untreated  control  parents." 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  result  was  that  the  mortality  of 
all  ages  after  hatching  was  lower  in  the  offspring  of  parents  both 
of  which  had  been  subjected  to  alcohol  and  while  the  weight 
at  hatching  was  much  the  same  in  both  groups  the  adult  body 
weight  was  higher  in  the  offspring  of  the  alcoholized  fowl.  Ab- 
normal offspring  appeared  no  more  frequently  in  the  progeny  of 
alcoholized  parents  than  in  the  untreated  strains.  In  view  of  the 
somewhat  superior  character  of  the  fowl  from  alcoholized  parents, 
Pearl  concludes  that  there  is  "no  evidence  that  specific  germinal 
changes  have  been  induced  by  the  treatment,  at  least  so  far  as 
concerns  those  germ  cells  which  produced  zygotes." 

However,  he  admits  that  alcohol  probably  injured  some  of 
the  germ  cells  as  is  evinced  by  the  high  proportion  of  infertile 
eggs  in  cases  in  which  either  the  male  or  the  female  parent  had 
been  treated  with  alcohol.  Alcohol  was  supposed  to  eliminate 
the  weaker  germ  cells,  thereby  diminishing  the  proportion  of 
individuals  developed  from  inferior  germ  plasm.  Whether  alcohol 
improves  or  deteriorates  the  stock  would,  therefore,  depend  upon 
the  relation  between  its  action  as  a  selective  agent  in  eliminating 
weaker  sex  cells  or  preventing  their  union  and  its  action  as  a 
direct  source  of  injury  to  the  germ  plasm. 

Both  Pearl  and  Stockard  consider  their  results  as  not  opposed 


276         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

to  one  another,  the  apparent  discrepancy  being  due  to  the  differ- 
ent degrees  of  resistance  of  the  bird  and  the  mammaHan  germ 
cells  to  alcohol.  Where  the  direct  injury  to  the  germ  plasm  is  not 
too  great  the  action  of  alcohol  in  eliminating  the  weaker  germ 
cells  may  outweigh  its  direct  injury  to  the  more  vigorous  ones. 
This,  if  I  understand  it,  is  the  essential  feature  of  Pearl's  attempt 
to  harmonize  his  own  results  with  those  obtained  with  guinea 
pigs.  Stockard  points  out  that  there  may  have  been  in  Pearl's 
experiments,  not  so  much  an  elimination  of  weaker  germ  cells,  as 
a  very  early  prenatal  mortality,  which  would  naturally  be  mis- 
taken for  infertility  of  the  eggs.  Such  early  mortality  was  ac- 
tually demonstrated  in  the  guinea  pigs,  especially  in  the  alcoholic 
strains.  But,  however  this  somewhat  difficult  problem  may  be 
solved, — whether  elimination  occurs  before  or  soon  after  the  germ 
cells  unite, — both  Pearl's  and  Stockard's  results  may  be  due  to  a 
tendency  of  alcohol  to  act  injuriously  on  the  germ  plasm.  The 
influence  of  alcohol  on  the  race,  however,  is  very  different  accord- 
ing to  whether  or  not  the  direct  injury  of  alcohol  to  the  germ 
plasm  is  outweighed  by  its  operation  as  a  selective  agent. 

Confirmatory  evidence  of  the  effect  of  alcohol  on  the  germ 
cells  is  afforded  by  the  experiments  of  Cole  and  Davis  on  rabbits 
by  means  of  double  matings.  When  females  were  mated  at 
nearly  the  same  time  with  normal  and  with  alcoholized  sires  it  was 
found  that  the  sperm  of  the  males  that  had  been  given  alcohol 
usually  failed  to  fertilize  the  ova,  owing  probably  to  the  influence 
of  alcohol  on  the  vitaUty  of  the  spermatozoa. 

In  regard  to  the  hereditary  influence  of  alcohol  in  man  our 
evidence  is  less  direct  and  less  conclusive.  The  great  majority  of 
writers  on  the  relation  of  alcohol  to  heredity  are  firmly  convinced 
that  the  evil  effects  of  alcohoHsm  are  transmitted  from  parents  to 
their  children.  In  recent  years,  however,  expression  of  opinion  on 
the  part  of  the  more  scientific  students  of  the  subject  has  become 
rather  more  guarded,  and  by  a  few  writers,  prominent  among 
whom  is  Dr.  G.  A.  Reid,  it  is  held  that  parental  alcoholism  has  no 
appreciable  influence  on  the  next  generation.  No  critically 
minded  and  unbiased  person  who  has  become  well  acquainted 


ALCOHOL,  DISEASE,  AND  HEREDITARY  DEFECTS    277 

with  modern  views  on  the  nature  of  hereditary  transmission  can 
read  very  much  of  the  writings  that  have  accumulated  on  this 
question  without  a  feeHng  of  grave  doubt  or  suspicion  in  regard 
to  the  conclusiveness  of  most  of  the  evidence  that  is  brought 
forward.  The  subject  is  seldom  discussed  without  bias,  and  most 
of  our  data  has  been  collected  by  writers  who  were  endeavoring  to 
make  the  case  against  alcohol  as  bad  as  it  could  be  made.  But 
should  there  be  no  transmission  of  acquired  characters  in  the 
strict  sense  of  the  term,  it  does  not  follow  that  parental  alcohol- 
ism produces  no  effect  upon  the  next  generation.  It  may  affect 
the  nutrition  of  the  germ  cells  and  so  tend  to  stunt  the  offspring. 
It  may  poison  the  germ  cells  by  being  carried  into  direct  contact 
with  them  through  the  blood;  or  it  may  poison  them  indirectly  by 
means  of  substances  arising  from  the  disordered  functions  of  the 
body.  In  still  another  way  the  next  generation  may  be  affected, 
and  that  is  by  the  influence  of  alcohol  on  the  foetus  during  the 
period  of  pregnancy.  We  cannot  call  such  an  influence  hereditary 
transmission,  although  it  has  often  been  confused  with  hereditary 
transmission.  Alcohol  in  the  blood  of  the  mother  might  pass 
through  the  placenta  into  the  foetal  circulation  where  in  fact  it 
has  been  detected.  The  effect  of  alcohol  on  the  offspring  in  such 
a  case  would  be  a  direct  and  not  an  inherited  one.  It  is  as  if  one 
of  a  pair  of  Siamese  twins  should  drink  and  the  other  one  should 
also  get  drunk,  a  result  which  might  very  well  happen.  In  any 
consideration  of  the  hereditary  effects  of  alcohol  we  shall  have, 
therefore,  to  treat  the  effects  of  maternal  indulgence  during  preg- 
nancy as  a  special  case.  It  is  quite  possible  for  alcohol  to  in- 
jure the  unborn  child  without  affecting  the  germ  plasm  or  heredi- 
tary substance,  or  producing  an  effect  that  is,  strictly  speaking, 
hereditary. 

There  is  another  distinction  which  must  be  made  in  discussing 
this  subject,  and  that  is  the  distinction  between  inheriting  a 
propensity  toward  alcoholism,  and  the  transmission  of  the  effects 
of  parental  indulgence  in  alcohol.  If  the  son  of  a  drunken  father 
drinks  to  excess  it  does  not  follow  that  the  son  has  inherited 
the  effects  of  his  father's  habit  of  drink.    Father  and  son  may 


278  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

both  drink  because  they  belong  to  a  strain  with  a  hereditary 
weakness  in  this  direction.  The  son  may  drink  because  of  the 
envdronment  in  which  he  was  raised;  he  may  have  been  given 
liquor,  as  children  of  such  parents  often  are,  and  early  acquired  a 
taste  for  it;  or  he  may  have  been  thrown  among  associates  who 
would  naturally  lead  him  into  the  drinking  habit.  No  amount  of 
data  showing  a  correlation  between  the  alcoholism  of  parents  and 
that  of  their  offspring  is  sufficient,  by  itself,  to  prove  anything 
whatsoever  in  regard  to  heredity.  But  simple  as  this  distinction 
is,  it  is  one  that  has  been  ignored  by  a  multitude  of  writers. 
Nothing  is  more  common  than  to  find  statistics  regarding  the 
appearance  of  alcoholism  in  successive  generations  adduced  as  a 
sufficient  proof  of  the  hereditary  effects  of  alcohol.  One  might 
get  the  same  kind  of  statistics  about  taking  snuff,  chewing  to- 
bacco or  using  bad  grammar,  but  they  would  prove  nothing  in 
respect  to  hereditary  transmission. 

With  these  considerations  in  mind  we  may  consider  some  of  the 
arguments  adduced  to  show  the  hereditary  influence  of  alcohol. 
It  is  a  conclusion  supported  by  many  statistics  and  among  others 
by  the  recent  data  of  Elderton  and  Pearson,  that  the  percentage 
01  stillbirths  and  of  deaths  in  early  infancy  is  higher  in  the  off- 
spring of  alcohoUc  than  in  those  of  non-alcoholic  parents.  There 
are  several  possible  causes  of  this.  First,  the  injurious  effect  of 
alcohol  on  the  foetus.  Second,  the  injurious  effect  of  alcohol  on 
the  health  of  the  mother.  Third,  the  relatively  unfavorable 
circumstances  of  the  alcoholic's  family.  In  London  in  1903-04 
over  half  the  deaths  from  overlying  occurred  on  Saturday  and 
Sunday  nights.  The  curve  for  deaths  from  suffocation  in  Eng- 
land is  almost  perfectly  paralleled  by  the  curve  of  arrests  for 
drunkenness.  Fourth,  alcoholic  mothers  are  more  frequently 
unable  to  nurse  their  children,  and,  according  to  Bunge,  infant 
mortality  in  the  first  year  of  Hfe  is,  in  some  places,  six  times  as 
high  in  children  fed  on  cow's  milk  as  among  those  that  are  breast 
fed.  Holt,  a  well-known  authority,  says  that  deaths  of  cow-fed 
infants  are  three  times  as  frequent  as  among  children  nursed  by 
their  mothers.    One  reason,  therefore,  for  the  greater  mortality  of 


ALCOHOL,  DISEASE,  AND  HEREDITARY  DEFECTS    279 

the  children  of  alcoholic  mothers  may  be  that  the  latter  are  unable 
to  nurse  their  children  as  much  as  mothers  not  addicted  to  drink. 
The  role  of  heredity  here  is  obscured  by  so  many  other  factors 
that  the  real  hereditary  influence  of  maternal  alcoholism  re- 
mains in  doubt. 

One  of  the  strongest  indictments  against  alcohol  is  that  the 
offspring  of  people  addicted  to  drink  show  a  high  percentage  of 
idiocy,  imbecility,  epilepsy  and  insanity,  and  that  when  they 
escape  these  graver  ills  they  usually  fail  to  reach  a  normal  degree 
of  mental  development.  The  relation  of  parental  alcoholism  to 
epilepsy  forms  the  subject  of  an  extensive  monograph  of  Dr. 
Sollier  on  the  Influence  of  Heredity  on  Alcoholism.  This  mono- 
graph is  based  entirely  on  the  author's  own  investigation  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  famiHes  of  alcoholics,  one  of  the  members  of 
which  was  or  had  been  in  the  wards  of  the  asylum  for  epileptics 
at  Bicetre.  The  histories  of  a  large  number  of  cases  are  given  in 
detail  and  they  contain  records  of  drunkenness,  disease,  crimes, 
insanity,  feeble-mindedness  and  a  variety  of  other  abnormal 
traits.  "Out  of  these  three  hundred  and  fifty  families,"  Sollier 
says,  "there  were  two  hundred  and  nine  in  which  we  could  find 
no  acknowledged  hereditary  ancestor  whose  condition  would 
account  for  the  alcoholism.  We  have  however  admitted  the 
disease  without  inheritance  in  two  hundred  and  nine  cases,  say  in 
59.71  per  cent  of  the  whole  number.  In  one  hundred  and  forty- 
one  cases  the  alcohoHsm  was  linked  with  conditions  of  heredity; 
in  one  hundred  and  six  cases  by  heredity  in  similars;  in  thirty- 
five  cases  by  heredity  in  dissimilars.  .  .  .  The  patients  in  whose 
families  we  have  sought  to  trace  the  exciting  causes  of  the  dis- 
ease, were  all  degenerates  of  a  low  order,  idiotical,  incompletely 
developed,  feeble,  epileptic." 

The  facts  stated  in  the  last  sentence  quoted  should  warn  us 
to  be  particularly  careful  in  drawing  conclusions.  How  much  of 
the  degeneration  in  these  famiHes  is  due  to  the  effect  of  alcohol 
and  how  much  to  bad  heredity  independent  of  alcohol  we  do  not 
know.  To  what  an  extent  the  alcohoHsm  which  in  a  number  of 
cases  occurs  in  two  generations  is  to  be  attributed  to  heredity  we 


28o  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

do  not  know.  And  even  if  we  admit  that  the  proclivity  to  alco- 
holism in  these  cases  is  inherited,  it  does  not  follow  that  the 
inheritance  of  this  proclivity  is  in  any  way  the  effect  of  alcohol. 

Barr  in  his  work  on  Mental  Defectives  quotes  Hippolyte  Martin 
to  the  effect  that  among  one  hundred  and  fifty  insane  epileptics, 
eighty- three  had  a  paternal  history  of  intemperance,  and  he 
states  that  in  his  (Barr's)  own  records  "only  fifteen  of  my  two 
hundred  and  fifty  cases  of  imbecile  epileptics  had  such  a  history." 
Horsley  and  Sturge  in  their  recent  book  on  Alcohol  and  the  Hmnan 
Body  say  that  "  there  is  very  strong  evidence  to  show  that  paren- 
tal alcoholism  is  one  of  the  most  frequent  causes  of  epilepsy  in 
children."  Of  the  two  authorities  cited  in  support  of  this  conclu- 
sion, one.  Dr.  W.  C.  Sullivan,  found  that  out  of  two  hundred  and 
nineteen  children  who  had  alcoholic  mothers  4.1  per  cent  became 
epileptic,  whereas  in  the  general  population  epilepsy  occurs  in 
less  than  one-half  per  cent, — numbers  two  small  to  eliminate  the 
effect  of  mere  chance.  And  besides,  it  was  not  taken  into  consid- 
eration that  both  epilepsy  and  alcoholism  may  have  resulted 
from  a  nervous  heredity. 

The  other  authority  appealed  to.  Dr.  Legrain,  personally 
followed  up  the  descendants  of  two  hundred  and  fifteen  drunk- 
ards and  found  that  in  their  families  epilepsy,  insanity  and  other 
nervous  disorders  were  extremely  common.  Here  again  the  same 
uncertainty  occurs.  Is  the  alcohol  the  cause  of  the  epilepsy  and 
insanity,  or  do  constitutions  with  a  proclivity  to  epilepsy  and 
insanity  take  most  readily  to  alcohol?  It  may  be  that  much  of 
the  epilepsy  and  especially  of  the  insanity  was  caused  directly 
by  drink,  and  that  the  offspring  of  drinkers  being  more  apt,  for 
various  reasons,  to  drink,  naturally  exhibit  a  higher  percentage 
of  nervous  disorders.  It  is  one  thing  to  show  that  hereditary 
nervous  disorders  are  more  common  in  stocks  addicted  to  alcohol, 
and  quite  a  different  thing  to  prove  that  alcohol  is  the  cause  of 
these  disorders  when  they  appear  in  the  next  generation. 

Demme's  results  which  are  often  alluded  to  are  vitiated  by  the 
fact  that  they  are  based  on  especially  selected  evidence.  A  com- 
parison is  made  between  the  offspring  of  two  drunkards  and  two 


ALCOHOL,  DISEASE,  AND  HEREDITARY  DEFECTS    281 

sober  parents.  In  the  former  there  were  8  idiots,  13  epileptics,  2 
deaf  mutes,  5  dwarfs,  3  physically  deformed,  12  who  died  in  in- 
fancy, 5  who  became  drunkards  affected  with  chorea  and  epilepsy, 
and  only  nine  who  were  entirely  normal.  The  families  of  the  nor- 
mal parents  showed  nothing  extraordinary  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected. It  is  evident  that,  granting  the  drunkards'  famiUes  were 
typical  of  alcoholic  parents,  which  it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that 
they  are,  the  relation  would  not  prove  the  causative  role  of 
alcohol  in  the  production  of  the  various  pathological  conditions 
that  were  found. 

Comparatively  few  writers  have  been  alive  to  the  alternative 
possibilities  of  interpretation  in  the  statistics  with  which  they 
were  dealing.  H.  I.  Berkely,  for  instance,  in  his  Mental  Diseases 
states  positively  that  it  is  a  well-recognized  fact  that  drunken- 
ness is  frequently  responsible  for  the  lowest  form  of  congenital 
idiocy.  As  evidence  of  the  hereditary  effects  of  alcohol  Horsley 
and  Sturge  quote  the  following  from  the  report  of  the  Royal 
Commission  on  the  Feeble-Minded:  "Examining  out  of  many 
family  histories  one  hundred  and  fifty  cases  of  mental  defect  in 
which  he  was  able  to  satisfy  himself  that  he  had  collected  historic 
data,  Dr.  Tredgold,  physician  to  the  Littleton  Home  for  Defective 
Children,  found  in  46.5  per  cent  of  the  families  a  history  of  well- 
marked  alcoholism;  in  38.5  per  cent  of  the  cases  combined  with 
neuropathic  inheritance."  In  a  study  of  the  histories  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  feeble-minded  children  Dr.  Potts  found  a  his- 
tory of  alcoholism  in  one  hundred  and  four  of  them.  Eighteen  per 
cent  had  a  history  of  tuberculosis  in  addition  to  alcoholism  and 
1 1 .87  per  cent  were  both  alcoholic  and  insane.  "  It  is  quite  plain," 
says  Dr.  Potts,  ''that  in  combination  with  other  bad  factors  it 
[alcoholism]  is  a  most  unfavorable  element,  while  maternal 
drinking,  and  drinking  continued  through  more  than  one  genera- 
tion are  potent  influences  in  mental  degeneracy." 

Both  the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Potts  and  his  attitude  toward  the 
problem  are  typical  of  the  reasoning  so  commonly  exhibited  in  the 
treatment  of  alcohol  in  relation  to  heredity.  Apparently  it  did 
not  occur  to  Dr.  Potts,  or  to  Horsley  and  Sturge  that  the  facts 


282  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

presented  could  be  interpreted  in  any  other  light.  All  that  is 
directly  proven  by  the  statistics  is  that  alcoholism  in  parents  is 
frequently  correlated  with  various  kinds  of  neuropathic  traits  in 
the  children.  How  this  correlation  is  to  be  explained  the  statistics 
do  not  tell  us.  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  correlation  may  be  due 
to  the  fact  that  people  w^hose  heredity  disposes  them  to  idiocy, 
insanity  and  other  nervous  disorders  are  those  in  whom  inebriety 
is  most  likely  to  develop.  One  might  pile  up  volumes  of  statistics 
such  as  we  have  quoted  without  really  establishing  the  fact  that 
alcoholic  habits  are  a  cause  of  hereditary  defect.  The  problem  is 
not  so  simple  as  is  commonly  represented.  In  the  first  place  we 
must  eliminate  the  influence  of  the  unfavorable  environment 
under  which  the  children  of  alcoholics  are  so  frequently  brought 
up,  and  this  in  most  cases  is  no  easy  task.  And  then  there  is  the 
further  question  of  ascertaining  whether  the  use  of  alcohol  is  the 
cause  of  degeneration  or  its  effect,  or  whether  both  may  not  be 
the  outcome  of  other  factors. 

It  will  be  instructive  therefore  to  approach  the  subject  from  a 
different  angle  and  enquire  into  the  heredity  of  the  victims  of 
alcohol  in  order  to  find  if  they  show  any  traces  of  nervous  derange- 
ment which  may  have  disposed  them  to  the  excessive  use  of  drink. 
Dr.  Branthwaite  has  furnished  evidence  that  about  two-thirds  of 
the  inmates  of  the  Inebriate  Reformatories  of  England  and  Wales 
were  mentally  defective.  The  data  collected  by  Dr.  Branthwaite 
together  with  other  data  obtained  elsewhere  have  been  subjected 
to  a  statistical  investigation  by  Barrington,  Pearson  and  Heron  in 
their  Preliminary  Study  of  Extreme  Alcoholism  in  Adults.  A 
Second  Study  on  the  same  subject  based  on  additional  material 
was  pubHshed  two  years  later  by  Heron.  The  general  conclusion 
of  these  writers  is  that  extreme  alcoholism  is  a  symptom  of 
pathological  inheritance.  Victims  of  chronic  alcoholism  which  is 
sufficiently  severe  to  lead  to  segregation  in  a  reformatory  show, 
as  a  class,  a  relatively  high  degree  of  mental  defect,  emotional 
instability,  and  poor  education.  Heron  remarks,  in  speaking  of 
the  female  inebriates  studied  by  him,  although  most  of  his  state- 
ments apply  equally  well  to  the  other  sex,  that  "A  large  propor- 


ALCOHOL,  DISEASE,  AND  HEREDITARY  DEFECTS     283 

tion  of  the  women  begin  to  drink  practically  at  the  earliest  age  at 
which  they  can  obtain  access  to  alcohol,  and  the  amount  of  mental 
defect  among  those  who  have  been  drinking  for  many  years  is 
only  shghtly  greater  than  that  among  those  who  are  at  the  begin- 
ning of  their  alcoholic  career.  There  is  a  close  relationship  be- 
tween the  intensity  of  alcoholism  and  the  mental  conditions  of 
the  inebriates  but  no  relationship  with  their  physical  condition. 
All  this  lends  support  to  the  view  that  the  mental  defect  of  the 
inebriate  is  not  a  gradual  growth;  it  is  bom,  not  bred;  that  ine- 
briety is  more  an  incident  in  the  life  of  the  inebriate  than  the 
cause  of  his  mental  defect." 

This  conclusion  which  is  coming  to  be  quite  widely  adopted 
receives  strong  support  from  the  investigations  of  Stocker  which 
are  described  in  his  book  on  Alkoholpsy chosen}  Stocker  was  a 
physician  in  the  psychopathic  clinic  at  Erlangen,  Germany,  and 
he  endeavored  to  follow  up  the  histories  of  the  various  cases  of 
alcoholic  delirium  that  were  confined  in  the  institution.  He 
went  into  the  homes  of  the  patients  wherever  possible,  got  into 
friendly  relations  with  their  families,  and  obtained  whatever 
information  he  could  regarding  the  early  life  of  the  patients  and 
especially  any  symptoms  of  disordered  mentality  they  may  have 
manifested  previous  to  their  use  of  alcohol.  At  the  same  time  he 
informed  himself  as  fully  as  possible  concerning  the  ancestry  and 
other  relatives  of  the  person  in  question.  Stocker  was  able  to  get 
fairly  complete  data  in  regard  to  ninety  of  the  hundred  and  fifteen 
cases  represented  in  the  asylum.  Thirty-four  of  these  cases  had 
more  or  less  regular  fits  of  epilepsy,  and  in  all  but  two  of  these  the 
author  found  epileptic  symptoms  before  the  patients  started  to 
use  alcohol  in  excess.  In  the  vast  majority  of  the  remaining  cases 
including  chronic  alcohoHc  mania,  dementia  praecox  and  other 
disorders  there  was  a  history  of  nervous  or  mental  derangement 
before  the  alcohoHc  habit  was  acquired.  And  in  most  cases  also 
there  was  a  neurotic  taint  in  the  parents  or  other  near  relatives. 
But  the  point  that  seems  evident  from  the  data  is  that  these 
victims  of  alcoholism  were  not  so  much  deranged  because  they 

1  G.  Fischer,  Jena,  1910. 


284         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

were  alcoholic,  but  they  became  alcoholic  because  they  were 
previously  abnormal.  It  may  be  said  that  they  were  born  ab- 
normal because  their  parents  were  addicted  to  alcohol.  But  if 
we  were  to  enquire  into  the  history  of  the  parents  the  same 
question  would  arise:  Were  they  alcoholic  because  they  were 
degenerate  or  degenerate  because  their  parents  were  alcoholic? 
And  so  we  might  go  back  generation  after  generation  and  we 
would  probably  find  much  the  same  conditions  that  prevail  in  the 
stock  at  the  present  time.  The  question  of  paramount  impor- 
tance is :  What  started  the  neuropathic  strain  of  alcoholics  in  the 
first  place?  Presumably  it  started  somewhere  from  a  relatively 
normal  stock.  Was  the  start  due  to  alcohol?  This  is  of  course 
posssible;  we  may  say  that  it  is  not  improbable.  But  proven  it  is 
not.  And  it  cannot  be  proven  by  the  kind  of  statistics  usually 
appealed  to  in  support  of  the  commonly  received  opinion.  Most 
of  these  statistics  are  drawn  from  institutions  for  the  care  of 
epileptics,  insane  asylums,  homes  for  the  feeble-minded,  and 
institutions  for  the  care  of  chronic  inebriates  or  dipsomaniacs. 
From  the  nature  of  the  case  we  are  dealing  with  a  portion  of  the 
population  with  a  defective  inheritance  which  may  manifest 
itself  in  many  ways.  Medical  authorities  are  of  the  opinion, 
generally  speaking,  that  the  tendency  to  drink  is  an  inherited 
one.  And  this  strong  tendency  to  drink  is  very  frequently 
accompanied  by,  and  is  perhaps  a  result  of  a  neuropathic  taint. 
As  Dugdale  says  in  his  book  on  the  notorious  Jukes  family, 
"fuller  investigation  tends  to  show  that  certain  diseases  and 
mental  disorders  precede  the  appetite  for  stimulants  and  that  the 
true  cause  for  their  use  is  the  antecedent  hereditary  or  induced 
physical  exhaustion." 

If  we  could  start  with  two  lots  of  people  of  equally  good  inheri- 
tance and  allow  to  one  the  use  of  alcoholic  stimulants  and  with- 
draw them  from  the  other,  and  then  after  a  few  generations 
compare  the  average  progeny  of  the  two  lots,  we  might,  after 
making  allowance  for  the  differences  of  direct  environmental 
influence  affecting  the  children,  arrive  at  some  probable  conclu- 
sions as  to  how  alcohol  influences  heredity.    We  do  not  find  these 


ALCOHOL,  DISEASE,  AND  HEREDITARY  DEFECTS    285 

conditions  realized  to  any  considerable  degree.  However,  there 
has  been  found  little  correlation  between  the  amount  of  drunken- 
ness in  any  city  or  country  and  the  number  of  defective  people. 
Dr.  Bevan  Lewis  and  Dr.  Sullivan  have  shown  that  in  England 
the  inland  or  agricultural  communities  had  the  least  amount  of 
drunkenness  and  a  high  ratio  of  pauperism  and  insanity,  while 
mining  and  manufacturing  communities  which  were  the  most 
intemperate  had  a  very  small  ratio  of  pauperism  and  insanity. 
This  fact,  while  contrary  to  what  one  might  expect  in  the  light  of 
the  fact  previously  cited,  may  not  be  indicative  of  anything  in 
regard  to  the  hereditary  effects  of  alcohol.  The  better  endowed 
may  have  migrated  into  the  cities,  leaving  the  poorer  stock  to 
perpetuate  the  race  in  the  country,  and  there  may  have  been 
various  other  social  forces  that  would  work  in  the  same  direction. 
The  situation  illustrates  how  dangerous  it  is  to  take  statistics  at 
their  face  value,  and  to  base  conclusions  on  them  without  a 
knowledge  of  the  various  possible  factors  which  may  account  for 
the  results. 

One  of  the  most  systematic  investigations  of  the  subject  that 
has  appeared  in  recent  years  is  the  Study  of  the  Influence  of 
Parental  Alcoholism  on  the  Physique  and  Ability  of  the  Offspring 
written  by  Elderton  and  Pearson,  and  published  by  the  Eugenics 
Laboratory  of  London.  The  material  investigated  consisted  of  a 
school  in  Edinburgh  and  some  special  schools  in  Manchester. 
The  parents  of  the  school  children  were  carefully  studied  and  their 
habits  as  regards  alcohol  accurately  ascertained.  In  the  data 
from  the  Manchester  schools  the  parents  were  classed  as  either 
temperate  or  intemperate,  but  a  closer  grading  was  made  of  the 
Edinburgh  parents  who  were  grouped  into  teetotalers,  sober, 
suspected  to  drink,  drinks,  has  bouts  of  drinking.  The  children 
were  graded  as  to  height,  weight,  health,  eye-sight  and  mental 
ability.  Then  a  comparison  was  made  between  these  character- 
istics and  the  habits  of  the  parents.  It  was  found  (i)  that  in  both 
Edinburgh  and  Manchester  there  was  a  higher  death  rate  among 
the  children  of  the  alcoholic  parents,  and  that  the  alcoholic 
parents  had  more  children,  so  that  the  net  family  was  about  the 


286  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

same  in  the  two  classes.  (2)  The  mean  weight  and  height  of  the 
children  of  alcoholic  parents  were  slightly  greater  than  the  weight 
and  height  of  the  children  of  the  sober  parents,  but  as  the  age  of 
the  former  children  is  sHghtly  greater,  the  correlations  when 
corrected  for  age  show  a  slight  advantage  in  favor  of  the  children 
of  the  sober.  (3)  The  general  health  of  the  children  of  the  alco- 
holic parents  appears  a  little  better  than  that  of  the  children  of  the 
sober,  perhaps  because  the  more  deUcate  children  of  the  former 
died  to  a  greater  extent  in  infancy.  There  was  actually  more 
epilepsy  in  the  children  of  the  sober.  (4)  The  vision  was  slightly 
better  in  the  children  of  the  alcoholics.  (5)  The  intelligence  of 
the  children  from  the  two  classes  of  parents  was  so  nearly  the 
same  that  the  difference  was  not  significant. 

Although  these  results  were  based  on  a  study  of  over  a  thou- 
sand school  children,  it  is  quite  possible  that  fuller  data  would 
establish  a  different  conclusion.  The  outcome,  as  Elderton  and 
Pearson  admit,  was  quite  contrary  to  what  one  might  reasonably 
expect,  and  it  naturally  evoked  considerable  criticism.  Most  of 
the  criticisms  were  beside  the  mark  and  were  successively  met 
by  the  different  replies  which  were  made  by  Pearson  and  Elderton 
and  by  Pearson.  Without  entering  into  a  discussion  of  the 
several  points  raised  in  this  more  or  less  acrimonious  controversy, 
mention  may  be  made  of  two  objections  which  were  much  stressed 
by  the  critics  of  the  memoirs  in  question.  It  was  urged  that  the 
portions  of  the  population  dealt  with  were  not  representative  of 
the  people  at  large,  and  hence  any  conclusions  drawn  from  the 
investigation  would  be  of  no  value.  The  Edinburgh  population, 
according  to  Saleeby,  consisted  of "  the  slums  in  the  North  Canon- 
gate,"  although  a  list  of  the  trades  represented  by  the  parents 
showed  a  fairly  typical  series  of  occupations  for  the  working 
classes.  In  the  Manchester  school  ''one  child  in  each  family, 
whether  the  parents  were  temperate  or  intemperate,  was  mentally 
defective."  In  view  of  the  strong  hereditary  character  of  mental 
defect,  it  is  very  probable  that  the  Manchester  parents  represent 
a  selected  group  rather  strongly  tainted  with  hereditary  disa- 
biUty. 


ALCOHOL,  DISEASE,  AND  HEREDITARY  DEFECTS    287 

But  granting  these  groups  dealt  with  are  not  representative 
of  the  general  population,  this  fact  is  irrelevant,  as  Pearson  has 
urged,  so  long  as  it  has  not  been  shown  shown  that  for  each  group 
the  alcoholic  and  non-alcoholic  parents  do  not  belong  to  heredi- 
tarily differentiated  classes.  Pearson  claims  that  his  critics  have 
not  shown  that  this  is  the  case,  and  he  has  furnished  evidence  that 
so  far  as  wages  and  choice  of  trades  are  concerned,  there  is  no 
marked  difference  between  the  alcoholic  and  non-alcoholic  sec- 
tions. It  may  be  urged,  a  priori,  that  if  a  group  which  works 
against  a  handicap  of  alcohol  attains  an  efficiency  equal  to  that 
of  another  group  not  so  handicapped,  the  former  must  be  the 
better  hereditary  material,  but  we  have  no  statistical  proof  of 
this  in  the  present  case. 

Where  we  are  dealing  with  the  parents  of  defective  children, 
as  in  the  Manchester  data,  there  is  of  course  the  possibility, 
especially  in  the  light  of  the  experiments  of  Stockard,  that  the 
sober  parents  produce  defective  children  because  they  are  of 
defective  stock,  while  a  part  of  the  alcoholics  do  so  because  they 
are  alcoholic.  These  possibilities  are  mentioned  not  as  a  criticism 
of  the  memoir  in  question,  but  as  showing  the  extreme  difficulty  of 
solving  biological  problems  which  are  complicated  by  so  many 
social  factors.  As  the  studies  of  extreme  alcoholism  have  shown, 
extreme  alcoholism  itself  serves  to  distinguish  biologically  one 
class  from  another.  In  view  of  the  graded  character  of  mental 
defect  at  what  point  does  alcohol  cease  to  have  this  segregating 
effect?  An  occasional  or  moderate  use  of  alcoholic  beverages  is 
perhaps  no  more  indicative  of  mental  peculiarities  than  being  a 
teetotaler,  if  as  much.  But  as  the  use  of  alcohol  Increases  it  comes 
to  be  more  of  a  mark  of  a  hereditarily  defective  stock.  It  is  not 
improbable  that,  as  Pearson  suggests,  the  parents  of  the  Edin- 
burgh and  Manchester  school  children  failed  as  a  rule  to  develop 
that  degree  of  alcoholism  which  is  associated  with  mental  defect. 
The  apparent  discrepancy  between  the  results  of  the  First  Study 
and  the  Studies  on  Extreme  Alcoholism  is  explained  on  the  ground 
that  *'the  mentally  defective  became  extreme  alcoholists,  ine- 
briates in  constant  conflict  with  the  police  because  the  mental  de- 


288  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

feet  is  antecedent  to  their  alcoholism.  But  because  the  bulk 
of  the  mentally  defective  became  criminal  or  alcoholic  it  does  not 
follow  that  every  alcoholist  is  mentally  defective,  and  will  breed 
mentally  defective  children." 

Another  objection  to  the  conclusions  of  Elderton  and  Pearson 
is  that  in  no  case  was  it  certain  whether  or  not  the  parents  began 
their  alcoholic  habits  before  the  birth  of  the  offspring.  It  is  a  fair 
presumption,  from  what  is  known  of  the  persistence  of  habits  in 
human  beings,  that  the  parents  who  were  alcoholic  after  their 
children  became  of  school  age  were  in  most  cases  more  or  less 
alcoholic  before  their  children  were  bom.  Of  course  the  alcoholic 
habits  of  people  are  subject  to  much  variation,  and  some  parents 
may  have  used  alcohol  before  their  children  were  bom  and  after- 
ward became  sober,  and  in  other  parents  the  alcoholic  history  may 
have  been  just  the  reverse.  To  the  extent  that  such  changes 
occur,  whatever  correlations  may  exist  between  parental  alco- 
holism and  the  characteristics  of  offspring  would  not  be  revealed 
by  the  statistical  methods  employed.  The  presence  of  fluctua- 
tions in  the  alcoholic  habits  of  parents  would  naturally  weaken 
the  correlations  that  might  exist  between  alcoholism  of  parents 
and  peculiarities  of  their  children.  These  correlations  would  be 
further  weakened  by  the  fact  that  the  classes  compared  were  not 
as  sharply  defined  as  would  be  desirable.  The  teetotalers  were 
unfortunately  very  few  in  number  and  for  statistical  treatment 
they  were  usually  grouped  with  the  sober  or  those  who  drank  but 
little.  For  the  same  reason  the  small  group  of  those  ''suspected 
to  drink"  were  combined  with  the  drinkers. 

The  investigation  of  Elderton  and  Pearson  is  of  a  type  that  it  is 
desirable  to  see  extended  to  further  data.  If  the  results  do  not 
justify  a  final  verdict, — and  the  authors  make  no  sweeping  claims 
for  the  general  applicability  of  their  conclusions, — the  fault  lies  in 
the  inlierent  difficulty  of  the  problem  rather  than  in  the  imperfec- 
tions of  the  methods  employed.  The  authors  set  about  investi- 
gating a  particular  set  of  data  bearing  on  a  most  important  prob- 
lem, and  they  stated  their  precise  findings  and  some  conclusions 
that  could  and  some  that  could  not  be  drawn  from  their  data.    If 


ALCOHOL,  DISEASE,  AND  HEREDITARY  DEFECTS     289 

the  authors  obtained  mainly  negative  results  it  is  unscientific  to 
berate  them  for  this  fact,  or  to  bewail  the  circumstance  that  their 
findings  may  have  given  comfort  to  the  friends  of  alcohol. 

We  may  pass  briefly  over  the  studies  of  Laitenen,  MacNichoU, 
and  Bezzola  since  they  have  subjected  to  a  critical  overhauling 
by  Pearson  and  shown  to  be  based  on  faulty  methods  of  investiga- 
tion. Laitenen's  data  do  not  inform  us  whether  the  father  or 
mother  or  both  parents  were  alcohoHc,  which  is  a  very  unfortu- 
nate omission  when  one  is  dealing  with  problems  of  heredity. 
Weights  of  the  children  of  abstainers,  moderate  drinkers  (those 
taking  no  more  than  a  glass  a  beer  a  day)  and  drinkers  were  taken 
by  the  parents  at  monthly  intervals  from  birth  to  eight  months  of 
age.  The  babies  of  the  drinkers  averaged  somewhat  less  (4.4  per 
cent  for  boys,  3.6  per  cent  for  girls)  than  those  of  abstainers,  the 
offspring  of  "moderates"  occupying  an  intermediate  position. 
Although  when  eight  months  old  the  abstainers'  children  were 
heavier  than  those  of  the  moderates,  and  these  again  heavier  than 
those  of  the  drinkers,  increase  in  weight,  however,  was  quite  as 
rapid  in  the  children  of  the  drinkers  when  comparison  is  made 
with  the  original  weight.  These  results  have  very  little  signifi- 
cance for  any  problem  of  heredity  since  we  know  little  of  the 
social  and  nothing  of  the  racial  differences  of  the  several  classes. 
The  fact  that  the  age  at  marriage  for  the  abstainers  is  consider- 
ably greater  than  that  of  drinkers  might,  since  young  mothers 
produce  small  babies,  be  a  factor  in  accounting  for  the  relatively 
slight  differences  in  weight  between  the  offspring  of  the  drinking 
and  abstaining  parents. 

Bezzola  contends  that  relatively  more  idiots  and  imbeciles 
are  conceived  in  Switzerland  during  the  period  of  vintage  and  at 
other  times  at  which  unusual  amounts  of  alcohol  are  drunk,  but 
as  the  excess  at  most  is  only  three  births  out  of  some  seven  hun- 
dred it  is  entirely  without  any  statistical  significance, 

MacNichoU's  data,  despite  its  imposing  quantity,  yields  no 
evidence  of  the  role  of  heredity  which  any  critical  student  of 
genetics  would  think  of  basing  any  conclusions  upon.  Maternal 
or  paternal  inebriety  are  not  distinguished,  and  no  attempt  is 


290  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

made  to  separate  the  effect  of  the  children's  use  of  tobacco  and 
Hquor,  which  he  claims  are  deplorably  prevalent,  from  the  effects 
possibly  due  to  heredity.  The  papers  of  MacNicholl  belong  to 
that  very  large  class  of  Hterature  on  the  hereditary  influence  of 
alcohol  which  neglects  nearly  all  of  the  elementary  precautions 
which  are  absolutely  essential  for  attaining  reliable  results. 

From  the  kind  of  data  we  have  on  the  hereditary  effects  of 
alcohol  in  human  beings  it  is  difficult  to  come  to  any  positive 
conclusion.  And  there  is  a  much  less  confident  tone  in  the  utter- 
ances on  this  subject  among  more  recent  authorities  on  heredity 
than  there  was  several  years  ago.  It  is  commonly  recognized  that 
in  certain  families  there  is  a  bent  toward  alcoholism.  This  no 
more  proves  that  such  a  trait  is  the  result  of  the  liquor  habit  than 
the  reappearance  of  kleptomania  proves  that  this  failing  is  the 
result  of  parental  thieving.  What  caused  the  original  appearance 
of  the  bent  toward  alcoholism  we  do  not  know.  Neither  do  we 
know  in  most  cases  what  causes  the  first  appearance  of  feeble- 
mindedness and  the  hereditary  forms  of  epilepsy  and  insanity. 
When  the  attempt  is  made  to  follow  the  history  of  these  maladies 
we  usually  uproot  a  strain  of  defective  inheritance  which  runs 
back  and  back  farther  than  we  can  trace  it.  The  Jukes,  the  Tribe 
of  Ishmael,  the  Kallikak  family,  the  Zero  family  and  the  Nam 
family  all  have  much  the  same  melancholy  sort  of  history.  All 
show  alcoholism  and  degeneracy  going  hand  in  hand.  It  is 
reasonably  certain  that  much  alcoholism  is  the  product  of  degen- 
eration. That  it  is  a  common  cause  of  the  first  appearance  of 
degenerate  strains  is  of  course  possible,  if  not  probable.  But 
our  present  knowledge  of  the  subject  does  not  justify  us  in  assert- 
ing that  such  a  conclusion  is  anything  more  than  a  good  working 
hypothesis. 

There  is  no  question  in  eugenics  more  important  than  that  of 
the  origin  of  defective  strains  of  human  beings.  How  much  light 
might  be  thrown  on  the  problem  by  statistical  investigation,  if 
undertaken  in  the  right  way,  I  shall  not  presume  to  predict,  but 
so  far  as  the  hereditary  influence  of  alcohol  is  concerned  the  most 
promising  method  consists  in  experiments  on  animals.     In  this 


ALCOHOL,  DISEASE,  AND  HEREDITARY  DEFECTS     291 

way  conditions  may  be  controlled,  check  experiments  carried  on, 
and  data  obtained  that  are  free  from  a  multitude  of  possible 
interpretations.  Heredity  in  human  beings  is  essentially  the  same 
as  heredity  in  animals,  and  should  it  be  found  quite  generally 
that  alcoholism  in  the  lower  animals  is  productive  of  heritable 
defects,  it  is  very  probable  that  the  same  conclusion  could  be 
applied  also  to  man. 

The  only  other  substance  which  evidence  points  to  as  probably 
causing  injury'  to  human  germ  plasm  is  lead.  In  i860  Constan- 
tine  Paul  reported  that  women  workers  in  lead  have  an  unusually 
high  number  of  abortions,  stillbirths,  and  children  who  are 
unhealthy  and  die  early.  Much  more  indicative  of  a  true  hered- 
itary influence  is  the  fact  that,  when  the  father  alone  worked  in 
lead  a  high  percentage  of  abortions  or  early  deaths  occurred  in  the 
offspring.  Of  32  pregnancies  in  women  who  were  not  lead  work- 
ers but  whose  husbands  were  exposed  to  lead  there  were  twelve 
abortions  or  stillbirths,  and  of  the  20  children  born  alive,  8  died  in 
the  first  year,  4  in  the  second  and  5  in  the  third. 

The  bad  effects  of  plumbism  have  been  discussed  by  several 
writers  (Ballard,  Lewin,  Rennert,  Bourneville,  Roques,  Oliver) 
but  in  most  cases  the  reports  dealt  with  maternal  plumbism,  or 
with  data  in  which  the  maternal  and  paternal  effects  are  not 
distinguished.  It  has  been  shown  that  lead  is  absorbed  by  the 
foetus  from  the  mother  and  that  it  may  also  pass  to  the  offspring 
through  the  mother's  milk.  In  maternal  plumbism,  therefore, 
the  offspring  are  doubtless  directly  injured  by  the  lead  itself. 

Even  when  women  who  have  discontinued  work  in  lead  con- 
tinue to  have  an  unusually  large  number  of  abortions  the  result 
may  be  due  either  to  persistence  of  the  poison  in  the  mother's 
blood,  or  to  the  general  impairment  of  their  health  as  a  result  of 
the  poison. 

According  to  Oliver,  "the  effects  of  lead  in  this  parricular 
direction  [i.  e.,  on  offspring]  are  worse  when  both  parents  are 
affected,  next  when  it  is  the  mother  alone  who  has  been  brought 
under  the  influence  of  lead;  but  there  is  evidence  to  show  that 
lead  impregnation  of  the  male  is  extremely  prejudicial  to  the 


292  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

offspring.  Rennert  has  attempted  to  express  in  statistical  terms 
the  varying  degrees  of  gravity  of  the  prognosis  of  cases  in  which 
at  the  moment  of  conception  both  parents  are  the  subjects  of  lead 
poisoning,  also  where  one  alone  is  affected.  The  malign  influence 
of  lead  is  reflected  upon  the  foetus  and  on  the  continuation  of  the 
pregnancy  94  times  up  to  100  when  both  parents  have  been  work- 
ing in  lead,  92  times  when  the  mother  alone  is  affected,  and  6^ 
times  when  it  is  the  father  alone  who  is  working  in  lead.  ...  In 
his  studies  upon  hereditary  degeneration  and  idiocy,  Boumeville 
places  house-painters  in  the  unenviable  first  rank  of  the  occupa- 
tions followed  by  parents  of  mentally  weak  children."  {Diseases 
of  Occupation,  202-203.) 

These  results,  while  not  very  conclusive  as  to  permanent 
injury  to  the  germ  plasm,  are  naturally  suggestive  of  such  action. 
The  possibility  of  true  heritable  modification  being  produced 
by  lead  has  been  tested  by  Cole  and  Bachhuber  ^  on  fowls  and 
rabbits  and  by  Weller  on  guinea  pigs.  Cole  and  Bachhuber 
administered  lead  only  to  the  males.  The  offspring  of  the  poi- 
soned male  rabbits  showed  less  weight  and  a  higher  mortaHty 
than  the  offspring  of  normal  individuals.  In  the  fowl  it  was  found 
that  eggs  fertilized  by  poisoned  cocks  failed  to  develop  much  more 
frequently  than  those  fertilized  by  normal  males,  and  the  chicks 
from  poisoned  male  parentage  had  a  higher  mortality  both  before 
and  after  hatching. 

Weller  found  that  the  offspring  resulting  from  mating  poisoned 
male  guinea  pigs  with  normal  females  were  about  20  per  cent  less 
in  weight  than  the  controls,  that  more  of  them  died  during  the 
first  week  and  that  the  survivors  showed  a  general  retardation. 
Thus  far  we  are  not  in  possession  of  facts  indicating  that  injury 
due  to  lead  is  carried  beyond  the  first  generation.  If  the  results 
of  male  plumbism  are  due  to  injuries  to  the  chromatin  material  of 
the  sperm  cells  it  seems  probable  that  they  would  be  transmitted 
to  subsequent  generations.  Analogy  with  the  effects  of  male 
alcohohsm  in  guinea  pigs  would  also  support  this  conclusion. 
Further  work  on  this  important  problem  is  much  to  be  desired. 

^Proc.  Soc.  Exp.  Biol.  Med.  12,  24-29,  1914. 


ALCOHOL,  DISEASE,  AND  HEREDITARY  DEFECTS     293 

It  is  important  to  carry  experiments  through  several  generations 
and  to  experiment  with  a  large  number  of  substances  and  upon  a 
variety  of  forms  of  life.  If  we  knew  the  conditions  under  which 
new  variations  arise  in  plants  and  animals  the  information 
would  not  only  be  of  great  importance  in  relation  to  problems  of 
heredity  and  evolution,  in  general,  but  it  would  be  of  especial 
value  to  the  student  of  the  trend  of  our  own  racial  development. 

The  evidence  that  the  toxins  of  disease  may  unfavorably 
affect  the  inheritance  of  human  beings  is  at  present  very  inade- 
quate. In  the  light  of  such  facts  as  have  just  been  discussed  such 
an  influence  would  seem  probable  a  priori.  The  disease  whose 
hereditary  effects  are  the  most  obvious  is  syphilis,  which  may  be 
transmitted  from  parent  to  offspring  through  one  or  two  genera- 
tions and  possibly  more.  It  is  not  necessary  to  describe  the  disas- 
trous consequences  to  offspring  resulting  from  tlois  terrible 
malady.  It  is  only  too  well  known  as  a  very  potent  cause  of  abor- 
tions, stillbirths,  early  deaths,  and  much  misery  to  those  to  whom 
it  does  not  mercifully  prove  fatal.  The  transmitted  effects  of 
parental  syphilis,  however,  are  mainly  due  to  the  infection  of  the 
offspring  by  the  organism,  SpirochcEta  pallida,  which  is  now 
demonstrated  to  be  the  cause  of  this  disease.  Whether  syphilis 
produces  a  true  blastophthoric  effect  is  a  matter  very  difficult  to 
ascertain,  because  such  an  influence  would  be  so  closely  associated 
with  the  direct  results  of  the  disease  itself.  There  is  no  evidence 
at  present  available  which  would  warrant  us  in  regarding  syphilis 
as  the  cause  of  defective  inheritance  in  the  proper  significance  of 
this  term. 

The  same  conclusion  may  be  drawn  for  tuberculosis,  malaria 
and  other  diseases  which  are  often  rather  loosely  spoken  of  as 
"racial  poisons."  It  may  be  more  or  less  probable,  a  priori, 
that  they  may  permanently  impair  human  germ  plasm  and  give 
rise  to  strains  with  a  degenerate  inheritance,  but  our  knowledge 
on  this  important  problem  is  still  too  meager  to  justify  positive 
statements. 


294         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

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CHAPTER  XIII 


THE  ALLEGED  INFLUENCE  OF  ORDER  OF  BIRTH 
AND  AGE  OF  PARENTS  UPON  OFFSPRING. 

Our  information  on  the  subjects  treated  in  the  present  chapter 
is  in  a  most  unsatisfactory  state.  It  is  with  some  hesitation  that 
I  have  ventured  to  discuss  them  at  all,  but  on  account  of  their 
importance  for  the  general  problem  of  human  evolution  it  was 
thought  that  it  might  be  useful  to  treat  them  briefly,  even  though 
little  more  was  done  than  to  exhibit  the  imperfections  of  our 
knowledge  and  to  point  out  some  of  the  pitfalls  into  which  the 
unwary  have  so  frequently  fallen. 

In  regard  to  the  influence  of  order  of  birth  upon  offspring 
there  is  one  conclusion  which  we  may  feel  warranted  in  drawing 
with  some  confidence.  The  first  born  children  are  apt  to  be 
lighter  in  weight  and  shorter  in  height  than  those  of  later  births. 
Nothing  is  involved  in  the  establishment  of  this  conclusion 
beyond  the  collection  and  comparison  of  data  on  the  weight 
and  size  of  newly  born  infants  and  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the 
generality  of  the  conclusion  just  expressed.  Dr.  Matthews  Dun- 
can gives  the  following  data  on  the  weights  and  lengths  of  infants 
according  to  the  order  of  their  birth : 


Birth  Rank 

I 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7  and  over 

Average 

Weight  in  lbs 

7.20 
19.20 

7-31 
19.24 

7-35 
19.30 

7.19 
18.96 

7-45 
19.27 

7-32 
18.96 

7-31 
18.99 

7.26 
19.19 

Length  in  inches 

Pearson  submits  the  following  table  on  the  weights  of  2,000 
babies,  excluding  twins  and  illegitimate  births,  from  the  records 
of  the  Lambeth  Lying-in  Hospital : 


Birth  Order 


Boys. 
Girls. 


/      : 

2 

3-4 

5-6 

7-8 

Q-IO 

Hand  over 

7.01 
6.76 

7-36 
7.08 

7.41 

7-33 

7.70 
7.36 

7.91 
732 

7-59 
7-65 

7.92 
7.88 

Mean  Weight 

7.40 
7-15 


297 


298 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


The  lengths  of  the  same  series  of  babies  were  found  to  be 
as  follows: 


Birth  Order 

I 

2 

3-4 

5-6 

7-8 

g-io 

Handover 

Mean  Length 

Boys 

20.62 
20. 27 

20.82 
20.33 

20.80 
20.51 

20.95 
20.43 

20.98 
20.36 

20.99 
20.41 

21 .14 
20.73 

20  81 

Girls 

20.38 

These  sets  of  tables, — and  there  is  considerable  additional 
evidence  to  the  same  effect, — indicate  that  the  first  born  infants 
of  both  sexes  are  lighter  in  weight  and  shorter  than  the  second 
born,  and  that  there  is  a  general  increase  according  to  order  of 
birth  until  near  the  close  of  the  child-bearing  period.  The  reason 
for  the  relatively  small  size  and  weight  of  the  first  born  may  lie 
in  the  fact  that  the  mothers  are,  on  the  average,  young,  and  also 
in  the  circumstance  that  their  organization  is  not  so  well  adapted 
to  child  bearing  as  it  becomes  after  one  or  more  births.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  first  birth  is  usually  the  most  difiicult.  There  is  a 
relatively  larger  number  of  stillbirths  among  the  first  born. 
Taking  the  records  of  48,843  births  among  the  professional  and 
upper  classes,  Ansell  found  the  proportions  of  stillbirths  distrib- 
uted as  follows: 


Order  of  Birth 

I 

2 

3 

4-6 

7  and  over 

Still  births  per  1,000  born  alive 

40 

20 

iS-5 

17-4 

20.9 

According  to  Ansell  there  is  a  greater  mortality  among  the 
first  born  in  the  first  year  of  life.  From  the  records  of  the  48,843 
births  just  mentioned  he  obtains  the  following  data: 


Order  of  Birth 

I 

2 

3 

4-6 

7  and  over 

Deaths  in  i  st  year  pen  ,000  living  births    . 

82.2 

70 

69 

78.3 

91 A 

Additional  evidence  in  the  same  direction  is  furnished  by 
Pearson  from  the  records  of  the  artisan  classes  from  several 


INFLUENCE  OF  ORDER  OF  BIRTH,  ETC. 


299 


English  towns.    The  following  table  gives  the  death  and  delicacy 
rates  of  3,000  babies  born  in  Bradford: 


Order  of  Birth 

/ 

2-3 

4-5 

7-6 

S-9 

10- 1 1 

12+ 

Death  rate  in  1  st  year 

Delicacy  rate  in  ist  year.  .  .  . 

16.2 
3-9 

12.4 
4.2 

13 

5-7 

14.3 
6.5 

174 
6 

17.7 
8.3 

33-3 
9 

Both  combined 

20.1 

16.6 

18.7 

20.8 

234 

26 

42.3 

Data  from  births  in  Sheffield  yield  closely  parallel  results: 


Order  of  Births 

I 

2 

3-4 

5-6 

7-S 

g-io 

11-12 

13+ 

Total  births 

Death  rate  in  ist  year  per  1,000  births 

636 
12.9 

691 
II. 6 

1156 
11-5 

843 
10.6 

518 
12.6 

334 
16.2 

143 
II. 9 

lOI 

24.8 

All  of  these  results  show  that  the  death  rate  of  infants  is  rela- 
tively high  for  the  first  born  and  that  it  tends  to  decrease  succes- 
sively with  the  second  and  third  and  sometimes  the  fourth  or 
fifth  born,  after  which  there  is  a  rise  in  the  death  rate  which  is 
particularly  high  after  the  birth  of  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  child. 

That  the  greater  mortality  of  the  first  born  is  due  to  the  same 
causes  which  give  rise  to  reduced  size  and  weight  is  a  conclusion 
which,  although  having  a  certain  amount  of  plausibility,  it  would 
be  rash  to  adopt,  at  least  as  an  explanation  of  the  whole  difference 
between  the  death  rate  of  first  and  later  born  children.  The  first 
born  would  naturally  suffer  more  from  the  ignorance  and  inex- 
perience of  their  mothers  and  there  are  other  factors  which  would 
affect  unequally  the  various  children  of  a  family.  Biological  and 
social  factors  may  both  affect  the  death  rate  of  the  first  children 
of  a  family,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  great  difficulty  to  assign  to  each 
its  proper  role.  Whatever  may  be  the  reasons  why  the  first  born 
are  handicapped  in  the  first  year  of  life,  it  is  of  much  interest  to 
ascertain  if  this  handicap  persists  in  later  years.  Pearson  and 
some  of  his  co-workers  have  maintained  that  this  initial  disadvan- 
tage is  correlated  with  a  greater  liability  to  tuberculosis,  insanity 
and  other  afflictions  of  adult  life.  As  an  illustration  of  the  method 


300 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


employed  by  Pearson  and  his  colleagues  we  may  consider  the 
First  Study  oj  the  Statistics  of  Pulmonary  Tuberculosis  which  gives 
data  on  the  order  of  birth  and  size  of  family  of  381  tuberculous 
patients  from  the  Crossley  Sanitorium  at  Frodsham,  England. 
The  assumption  was  made, — which  could  not  be  far  from  the 
truth — that  only  one  patient  was  drawn  from  a  single  family,  and 
since  there  were  381  families  represented,  each  of  which  must  have 
contained  a  first  born  member  there  must  have  been  381  individ- 
uals among  the  families  represented  who  were  first  bom-children. 
Since  the  size  of  the  families  was  ascertained  the  numbers  of 
second,  third  and  subsequent  born  could  readily  be  calculated. 
If  we  divide  the  tuberculous  patients  in  the  first,  second  and  third 
bom,  etc.,  in  the  same  ratio  in  which  these  classes  occur  in  the 
members  of  the  tuberculous  families  in  general,  we  obtain  a  series 
of  numbers  which  may  be  compared  with  the  members  of  first, 
second,  third,  etc.,  born  among  the  tuberculous  patients  which 
were  actually  found.  The  following  table  gives  the  expected 
frequency  of  tuberculosis  patients  and  the  actual  frequency  in  the 
groups  representing  the  various  orders  of  birth: 


Over 

Order  of 

/ 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

II 

12 

13 

14 

14 

Birth 

No.  of  cases 

observed.    . 

113 

79 

41 

52 

39 

18 

18 

9 

3 

3 

3 

I 

I 

I 

0 

No.  of  cases 

calculated.  . 

67.1 

64.4 

58.5 

SO-9 

43-5 

32.6 

22.  2 

iS-i 

10 

6.2 

3-7 

2.6 

1.6 

I.I 

1.6 

The  table  indicates  a  great  preponderance  of  the  tuberculous 
among  the  first  bom.  Comparisons  of  the  distribution  of  tuber- 
culous patients  with  the  relative  proportions  of  first,  second  and 
subsequent  born  among  the  population  of  New  South  Wales 
showed  the  same  excess  of  the  tuberculous  among  the  earlier 
bom  individuals. 

Dr.  Heron  has  come  to  the  conclusion  that  insanity  is  especially 
prone  to  attack  the  first  born  members  of  a  stock.    In  Goring's 


INFLUENCE  OF  ORDER  OF  BIRTH,  ETC.  301 

excellent  work  on  The  English  Convict  it  is  claimed  that  crimi- 
nality develops  in  the  first  bom  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  it 
does  in  the  later  born  members  of  the  stock  from  which  the  crim- 
inals are  derived.  Pearson  confirms  the  deductions  of  Heron  and 
Goring  for  insanity  and  criminality,  and  he  has  adduced  data  to 
show  that  the  first  born  are  unusually  liable  to  albinism,  imbecil- 
ity, epilepsy  and  cataract. 

A  number  of  writers  have  attacked  the  findings  of  Pearson 
and  his  colleagues  on  the  ground  that  they  are  based  upon  a 
statistical  fallacy.  Greenwood  and  Yule  have  arrived  at  a  quite 
different  ordinal  distribution  of  the  relative  number  of  individuals 
in  the  members  of  the  famiUes  of  the  marked  individuals.  When 
we  are  dealing  with  cases  of  insanity  or  tuberculosis  in  which  we 
start  with  individuals,  say  in  institutions,  it  is  obvious  that  all 
members  of  the  marked  person's  family  are  not  equally  apt  to  be 
found  in  the  segregated  class.  There  is  an  age  at  which  insanity 
and  tuberculosis  is  more  than  likely  to  appear  and  the  chances  are 
decidedly  against  two  persons  from  the  same  family  being  con- 
fined at  the  same  time,  there  being  an  especially  strong  bias 
against  the  members  who  have  not  reached  adult  life.  Recently 
Pearson's  methods  have  been  attacked  by  Dublin  and  Langham 
of  the  Statistical  Bureau  of  the  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance 
Company  of  New  York.  These  authors  contend  that  Pearson's 
method  "is  based  unequivocally  on  the  assumption  that  the 
distribution  according  to  order  of  birth  of  the  pathologic  com- 
munity from  which  his  'marked'  or  affected  subjects  are  ob- 
tained is  identical  with  the  distribution  of  the  sibships  of  these 
subjects.  For  if  that  be  the  case  he  can  use  the  distribution  of 
the  sibships  of  the  affected  as  a  norm  in  comparing  with  it  the 
distribution  of  the  affected,  in  the  effort  to  show  that  actually 
the  early  born  among  his  subjects  preponderate  beyond  all  ex- 
pected proportions.  We  shall  endeavor  to  show  that,  when  there 
is  no  weighing  according  to  order  of  birth  among  the  individuals 
affected,  the  distribution  of  the  affected  or  that  of  the  pathologi- 
cal community  represented  by  them  is  not  in  any  case  compar- 
able with  that  of  their  sibships.    We  propose  to  take  the  distri- 


302  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

bution  of  a  normal  population,  and,  supposing  all  members  of  it 
to  be  liable  to  some  disease  in  equal  proportions,  obtain  from  it 
the  distribution  of  the  sibships  of  the  affected  by  order  of  birth 
which  is  to  be  expected  on  the  assumption  made.  We  shall  find 
that  the  distribution  of  the  sibships  is  by  necessity  so  different 
as  to  account  for  practically  the  whole  difference  found  by  Pear- 
son." 

Here  we  have  differences  of  opinion  among  statistical  experts 
regarding  a  purely  mathematical  problem,  quite  apart  from  any 
biological  or  social  factors  which  may  possibly  be  involved  in  it. 
Dublin  and  Langham  have  arrived  at  precisely  the  same  theoret- 
ical distribution  of  381  tuberculous  patients  as  Greenwood  and 
Yule  found.  The  statistics  show  that  there  is  still  a  preponder- 
ance of  first  born  among  the  tuberculous,  but  it  is  so  much  less 
than  that  estimated  by  Pearson  that  the  authors  do  not  consider 
it  especially  significant. 

Pearson  has  replied  to  Greenwood  and  Yule — and  his  argument 
would  affect  the  criticisms  of  Dublin  and  Langham  also — claiming 
that  their  method,  when  applied  to  the  kind  of  material  which  is 
investigated  leads  to  incorrect  results.  We  shall  not  attempt  to 
enter  upon  a  discussion  of  the  details  of  the  mathematical  ques- 
tions which  are  the  subject  of  controversy.  There  is  occasionally 
a  surplus  of  first  born  over  the  expectation  as  estimated  by  the 
methods  of  Greenwood  and  Yule  as  is  the  case  with  tuberculosis, 
criminality  and  insanity.  Characteristics  found  to  occur  fre- 
quently in  small  families  will  naturally  be  found  in  a  relatively 
large  percentage  of  first  born  offspring.  As  Pearson  remarks, 
"Certain  types  of  parental  degeneracy  seem  incapable  of  pro- 
ducing more  than  one  or  two  children  at  most,  and  the  children 
of  such  parents  are  themselves  feeble.  But,  if  any  small  families 
are  thus  selected,  we  shall  increase  the  number  of  early-borns  in 
the  diseased  population,  for  such  small  families  have  no  late- 
borns." 

It  may  very  well  happen  that  the  first-borns  may  be  relatively 
abundant  in  a  diseased  or  defective  stock,  although  they  may  not 
be  relatively  less  frequent  among  the  sibships  of  the  affected  stock 


INFLUENCE  OF  ORDER  OF  BIRTH,  ETC.  303 

than  among  the  affected  persons  themselves.  This  would  be  the 
case  if  the  affected  families  were  small.  It  is  very  desirable  to 
have  data  on  the  relative  position  of  the  affected  person  in  indi- 
vidual families  of  two,  three,  four,  five,  etc.,  persons  so  that  it 
could  be  ascertained  whether  or  not  within  the  limits  of  families 
of  a  given  size  the  marked  individuals  occur  in  preponderating 
numbers  in  any  given  position.  Data  grouped  in  this  way  would 
enable  us  to  avoid  several  pitfalls  incident  upon  handling  mass 
statistics.  In  the  data  of  Weeks  on  the  order  of  birth  of  epileptics 
there  is,  as  Pearson  states,  "no  excess  of  the  eldest-born  in  the 
individual  families;  if  there  be  any  excess  it  is  in  the  interme- 
diates. Thus,  if  we  may  trust  this  data,  which  are  slender,  there 
is  no  weighting  of  the  first-born  in  the  case  of  epilepsy  unless  it 
arises  from  the  weighting  of  small  families."  Treating  the  data 
by  the  methods  employed  in  other  cases  Pearson  finds  an  excess 
of  epileptics  among  the  first  born.  "We  must,  I  think,  conclude," 
he  remarks,  "by  recognizing  that,  while  there  is  a  weighting  in 
epilepsy,  this  is  due  to  a  selection  of  families  rather  than  to  a 
selection  of  the  elder-born  in  each  family."  How  far  the  rela- 
tively large  proportion  of  first-borns  in  Pearson's  data  on  other 
defects  may  be  due  to  the  selection  of  small  families  is,  of  course, 
uncertain.  It  is  of  value  to  know,  however,  whether  the  relative 
preponderance  of  the  first  born  in  pathological  stocks  is  due  to  the 
smallness  of  the  family.  As  Pearson  remarks,  "We  are  shooting, 
so  to  speak,  at  the  entire  population  of  first  boms,  and  a  bias  with 
regard  to  selection  of  weaker  families  may  come  in,  in  much  the 
same  way  as  families  up  to  six  or  seven  may  be  the  sign  of  healthy 
parents,  and  so  the  offspring  will  be  less  liable  to  disease.  This 
idea  cannot  be  excluded.  But  in  itself  it  indicates  how  inadequate 
is  the  proposal  to  treat  the  problem  only  within  families  of  con- 
stant size." 

However  it  happens  that  the  first  bom  in  the  population  in 
general  comes  to  be  selected  for  defect  or  disease,  the  reduction 
of  the  size  of  families  leading  to  an  increase  in  the  relative  propor- 
tion of  first  born  individuals  will  inevitably  cause  an  exaggeration 
of  several  undesirable  hereditary  traits.    In  so  far  as  the  birth 


304  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

rate  is  allowed  to  take  its  natural  course  large  families  offer  some 
evidence  of  physical  vigor  whatever  they  may  indicate  as  to 
mentality.  A  general  reduction  of  the  birth  rate  has,  therefore, 
its  dangers,  at  least  for  the  physical  vigor  of  the  population,  since 
it  would  probably  involve  a  greater  proportionate  reduction  of 
healthy  and  vigorous  stocks. 

It  would  indeed  be  unfortunate  if  a  reduction  of  the  birth 
rate  in  the  larger  families  would  lead  to  the  reduction  of  the 
best  members  of  the  stocks  in  addition  to  the  loss  of  physical 
vigor  otherwise  involved.  Whether  ordinal  position  in  the  family 
except  in  the  matter  of  weight,  size  and  infantile  death  rate,  is 
per  se  a  handicap  is  a  question  which  most  of  our  data  do  not 
enable  us  to  decide.  The  fact  that  there  is  a  greater  percentage 
of  deaths  among  the  first  born  than  there  is  among  the  second  or 
third  born  does  not  prove  that  the  second  or  third  born  member 
of  any  particular  family  is  less  likely  to  die  than  the  first  born. 
The  large  percentage  of  deaths  among  the  first  born  may  be  due 
to  the  fact  that  a  large  proportion  of  early  deaths  occur  in  families 
containing  only  one  or  two  children.  The  data  do  not  prove  that 
in  families  in  which  three  or  four  children  are  born  the  later 
children  have  any  greater  expectation  of  life  than  the  first.  As 
we  have  already  pointed  out  fecundity  is  correlated  with  longev- 
ity. Families  limited  by  the  early  death  of  one  or  both  parents 
would  naturally  show  a  high  death  rate  on  account  of  the  prob- 
ability that  the  offspring  would  inherit  a  diminished  vitality.  On 
the  other  hand,  large  size  of  family  very  commonly  has  a  very 
undesirable  relation  to  infant  mortality,  despite  the  vitality  of 
the  stock  from  which  large  families  come.  This  is  due  in  part  at 
least  to  economic  causes  and  in  part  to  the  correlation  between 
mental  subnormality  (this  does  not  imply  reduced  physiological 
vigor)  with  a  high  birth  rate.  Where  large  families  occur  among 
intelligent  and  thrifty  people  as  they  did  a  century  ago,  there  is 
much  less  correlation  between  size  of  family  and  a  high  early 
death  rate.  The  following  table  from  data  collected  by  Dr.  A.  G. 
Bell  is  instructive  in  this  connection: 


INFLUENCE  OF  ORDER  OF  BIRTH,  ETC. 


305 


Relation  of  Duration  of  Life  to  Size  of  Family 


Number  in  family 


I 

2- 

I  and  2. .  .  . 

3  and  4. .  .  . 

5  and  6..  .  . 

7  and  8. .  .  . 

9  and  10. .  . 
II  and  12..  . 
13  and  more. 


Total 
persons 


41 

85 

126 

313 

584 
694 
683 

396 
168 


100.0% 
2,964 


Percentage  dying  at  age  groups  indicated 


Under 
20 


58 
42 
47 
36 
35 
2>l 
32 

2>2, 
46 


35-2% 
1,044 


20-40 


22.0 
24.7 
23.8 
25-5 
24 -5 
25.2 
22.2 
21 .2 
173 


23-4% 
693 


40-60 


4.9 
8 


18 
14 
19 

18 

17 
17 
18 

13 


17.7% 
525 


60-80 


9 

9 

9 

14 

IS 

16 

17 
17 
17 


■7 
•4 
•5 
•4 
•9 
•9 
•4 
•9 
•3 


16.4% 
486 


80+ 


4  9 


7.3% 
216 


The  table  deals  with  2,964  members  of  the  Hyde  family  of 
America  and  is  noteworthy  in  showing  the  high  early  death  rate 
among  families  with  but  one  child,  and  a  gradual  decrease  of 
early  death  rate  with  increase  of  family  up  to  families  of  eleven 
or  more  children.  There  is  also  a  marked  increase  in  the  percent- 
age of  offspring  living  to  advanced  ages  (60+  and  80+)  as  the 
families  become  larger  in  size.  The  poor  showing  of  the  very 
largest  families  may  be  due  to  causes  which  have  been  already 
discussed.  Miss  Elderton  has  remarked  that  the  high  death  rate 
among  the  early  born  in  families  or  twelve  or  more  "largely 
disappears  if  we  exclude  mothers  of  bad  habits." 

Data  on  the  problem  whether  the  first  bom  are  handicapped 
by  the  mere  fact  of  their  ordinal  position  in  the  family  are  very 
inadequate.  Dr.  Chase  studied  the  physiques  of  58  sets  of  broth- 
ers who  entered  Amherst  College  and  found  that  the  first  born 
were  strongest  in  four  cases,  the  second  born  strongest  in  twelve 
cases,  the  third  bom  strongest  in  twenty-eight  cases.  The 
students  entered  college  at  about  the  same  age  and  were  tested 
in  the  same  way,  but  the  small  number  of  cases  handled  makes  it 
unsafe  to  draw  general  conclusions.    Pearson  found  that  within 


3o6  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

families  of  a  given  size  the  first  and  second  born  show  as  a  rule  a 
preponderating  amount  of  albinism,  criminality  and  tuberculosis. 
Mongolian  idiocy  was  found  to  characterize  in  a  rather  striking 
manner  the  last  born  of  the  family. 

When  we  investigate  the  incidence  of  any  quality  in  regard  to 
order  of  birth  in  individual  families  we  are  not  entirely  free  from 
statistical  pitfalls,  if  we  start  with  material  segregated  in  institu- 
tions. If  we  take  individuals  of  a  certain  age,  say  20,  which  are 
confined  in  a  sanitorium,  then  if  the  numbers  of  families  are 
increasing  in  the  population  at  large  the  individual  will  be  more 
apt  to  be  the  eldest  of  a  recent  family  than  the  younger  member 
of  an  old  family.  This  possible  source  of  error  was  pointed  out 
by  Mr.  Cobb  who  says: 

"It  has  hitherto  been  assumed  that  if  a  person  of  given  age  is 
selected  at  random  from  amongst  fraternities  of  a  given  size  then 
aU  positions  in  that  fraternity  are  equally  likely.  But  this  is 
not  the  case.  If  the  number  of  births  has  been  increasing  he  is 
more  likely  to  be  one  of  the  older  members  of  his  fraternity,  and 
if  the  number  hasbeen  decreasing  he  is  more  likely  to  be  a  younger 
member.  For  while  the  number  of  births  is  increasing  there  are 
more  children  born  every  year  who  belong  to  the  first  half  of  their 
fraternities  than  who  belong  to  the  second  half." 

In  most  countries  there  are  more  births  per  annum  than 
previously  and  a  steady  increase  in  the  number  of  families.  But 
granting  that  this  would  give  us  an  apparent  increase  of  the  first 
born  of  any  particular  age  there  is  a  compensating  tendency 
brought  about  by  the  declining  birth  rate.  Along  with  an  in- 
creasing number  of  people  there  has  been  a  reduction  of  the 
percentage  of  the  later  born  owing  to  the  increasing  restriction  of 
the  size  of  the  family.  Consider  a  random  group  of  20  year  old 
individuals  from  families  of  twelve  members.  Will  not  this  be 
more  apt  to  represent  the  last  members  of  the  old  families  than 
the  first  members  of  families  that  were  started  later.  Suppose 
that  of  the  families  starting  in  1825,  one  in  ten  contained  a 
twelfth  child,  which  lived  for  60  years.  Suppose  also  that  of  the 
families  starting  in  1875  only  one  in  one  hundred  had  a  twelfth 


INFLUENCE  OF  ORDER  OF  BIRTH,  ETC.  307 

child  that  lived  for  35  or  more  years.  Now,  suppose  that  in  1910 
we  select  a  group  of  individuals  from  the  families  of  twelve  in  the 
population.  It  is  obvious  that  our  group  would  contain  many 
more  of  the  twelfth  born  from  the  old  families  than  from  the  later 
ones.  It  is  evident  from  these  considerations  that  when  we  sim- 
plify the  problem  of  handicapping  the  first  bom  by  considering 
the  ordinal  position  of  the  marked  member  within  families  of  a 
particular  size,  we  do  not  avoid  all  statistical  pitfalls.  Our  data 
collected  by  the  methods  generally  employed  would  be  affected 
by  increase  of  population  and  decline  of  the  birth  rate,  to  say 
nothing  of  other  possible  factors. 

Mention  may  be  made  of  one  circumstance  which  might  make  a 
real  difference  between  the  first  and  subsequent  members  of  a 
family,— and  that  is  inherited  syphilis.  It  is  a  well-known  fact 
that  the  early  born  are  most  seriously  injured  by  this  disease. 
The  not  uncommon  history  of  a  syphihtic  family  is  first  the 
occurrence  of  one  or  more  abortions,  then  the  birth  of  weakly 
children  and  finally  the  production  of  children  who  are  com- 
paratively healthy.  The  inclusion  of  any  considerable  number 
of  such  family  histories  would  tend  to  cause  the  first  born  to 
occupy  an  unenviable  position.  Since  syphilis  predisposes  the 
patient  to  tuberculosis  there  would  tend  to  be  an  exaggeration 
of  the  latter  disease  and  probably  also  insanity  and  other  patho- 
logical defects  among  the  early  born. 

So  far  as  pure  heredity  is  concerned  we  should  naturally 
expect  the  first  born  to  have  the  same  endowments  as  the  sub- 
sequent members  of  the  family.  Primacy  of  birth  as  Auerbach 
remarks  is  "Kein  vererbungstechnischer  Begriff."  Whatever 
effects  may  be  due  to  maternal  immaturity  or  the  difficulties 
incident  upon  bearing  the  first  child  are  to  be  regarded  as  somatic 
phenomena  which  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  produce  any 
inherited  effect.  How  long  it  takes  for  initial  handicaps  which 
are  observed  to  preponderate  in  first  born  children  to  be  out- 
grown, or  whether  they  are  ever  outgrown,  we  are  unable  to 
decide. 

Those  who  occupy  the  position  of  first  rank  in  their  families 


3o8  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

may  take  comfort  in  the  fact  that  their  claims  to  superiority 
are  not  without  their  champions.  Indeed  some  of  the  papers  of 
which  Pearson  is  a  joint  author  suggest  that  in  some  respects  the 
first  born  may  have  an  advantage  over  their  successors.  Beeton 
and  Pearson  in  their  investigation  of  the  age  at  death  of  over 
1 ,000  pairs  of  sisters  and  brothers  found  that  the  earlier  born  had 
on  the  average  a  longer  life.    The  ages  at  death  were  as  follows: 

Elder       Younger 

Sisters 59-924        55-667 

Brothers 58.560        54-575 

The  study  was  based  on  the  longevity  of  adults  who  have 
reached  maturity,  thus  eliminating  the  effect  of  infant  or  child 
mortaHty.  In  a  study  of  1,051  pairs  of  brothers  and  733  pairs 
of  sisters  where  it  was  possible  to  ascertain  the  interval  between 
the  births  it  was  found  that  the  greater  the  interval  the  less 
is  the  expectation  of  life  of  the  younger  member  of  a  pair.  "A 
brother  born  ten  years  before  another  brother  has  probably 
seven  years  greater  duration  of  life;  a  sister  born  ten  years  before 
another  sister  has  about  six  years  longer  duration  of  life." 

This  conclusion  is  not  exactly  opposed,  however,  to  the  doctrine 
of  the  inferiority  of  the  first  born,  especially  at  birth.  As  only 
adults  were  considered  in  Beeton  and  Pearson's  studies  the 
earlier  born  had  passed  the  first  ordeals  of  life  and  their  greater 
early  death  rate  may  have  rendered  them  relatively  more  hardy 
than  their  less  stringently  selected  younger  siblings. 

In  an  article  entitled  "The  Long-Lived  First-Born"  the  editor 
of  the  Journal  of  Heredity  presents  a  study  of  longevity  accord- 
ing to  birth  rank  of  802  individuals  most  of  whom  were  over  90 
and  all  of  whom  were  over  80  years  of  age.  A  relatively  large 
number,  217  out  of  802,  or  27.05  per  cent  of  first  born  children  Uve 
to  be  aged;  a  smaller  percentage  of  aged  occur  in  the  second  born, 
118  out  of  786,  or  15.01  per  cent  and  a  still  smaller  percentage 
of  aged  occur  in  the  third  born,  104  out  of  765,  or  13.59  per  cent, 
the  succeeding  birth  ranks  showing  only  a  slight  further  decrease. 


INFLUENCE  OF  ORDER  OF  BIRTH,  ETC. 


309 


Of  the  aged  individuals  studied  there  were  "some  living  and  some 
dead."  This  is  an  unfortunate  circumstance,  since  it  tends  to 
bring  an  undue  relative  proportion  of  the  first  bom  in  the  ad- 
vanced age  group.  It  is  fair  to  assume,  since  we  have  no  informa- 
tion to  the  contrary,  that  some  of  the  aged  had  younger  siblings 
who  might  also  have  become  aged  and  hence  helped  to  swell  the 
ranks  of  the  later  born  offspring.  Were  all  the  children  of  the 
families  given  time  to  quaHfy  for  the  advanced  age  group  it  is  not 
at  all  evident  that  the  first  born  would  be  represented  in  the 
highest  percentage  of  cases. 

It  is  in  the  field  of  intellectual  activity  that  the  first  born  have 
most  often  been  said  to  distinguish  themselves.  The  claim  is 
made  that  the  first  born  are  more  variable  than  their  successors, 
and  while  they  produce  a  larger  number  of  defectives  and  crimi- 
nals they  also  give  rise  to  a  larger  number  of  men  of  genius.  Gini 
has  shown  that  the  first  born  predominate  among  the  professors 
in  Italian  universities.  The  matter  was  investigated  by  sending 
questionnaires  to  the  professors;  445  replies  were  received  of  which 
416  related  to  families  of  two  or  more.  The  distribution  of  the 
professors  according  to  birth  rank  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
table : 


Birth  Rank  of  Italian  Professors 


Birth  Rank 


1 .  .  . 

2.  .  . 
3.... 
4...  . 

S--- 
6-7. 

8-9. 
10+ 


a 


No.  of  Professors  from 
Families  of  2  or  More 


141 
82 
58 
45 
32 

31 
20 

7 
416 


Expected  No. 

b 

87.4 

161 

87 

4 

90 

69 

9 

83 

54 

2 

83 

38 

7 

^3> 

44 

9 

79 

19 

8 

79 

13-4 

52 

415-7 

1 00  a 


3IO 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


It  is  not  stated  on  what  basis  the  expected  numbers  in  the 
third  column  were  calculated.  Granted  that  these  numbers  are 
free  from  criticism  the  number  of  first  born  is  strikingly  larger 
than  the  expected  proportion.  Professor  Gini  is  cautious  about 
stating  to  what  extent  the  superior  attainments  of  the  first  born 
depend  upon  social  considerations  such  as  "the  desire  of  parents 
to  see  their  eldest  child  occupy  a  position  that  will  reflect  honor 
upon  the  family,"  and  various  other  factors  that  are  in  no  way 
related  to  biological  influences. 

Galton  in  his  studies  of  British  men  of  science  found  26  eldest 
sons,  15  youngest  sons  and  36  of  intermediate  position.  Similar 
findings  for  50  eminent  men  are  reported  by  Yoder.  Havelock 
Eflis  in  his  study  of  the  birth  order  of  British  men  of  genius  gives 
the  following  table  showing  the  position  of  the  genius  in  the 
family: 

Ordinal  Rank  of  Men  of  Genius  in  the  Family 


Size  of  Family 


2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

II 

12 

13 

14 

Over  14. 


Eldest 

Intermediate 

15 

0 

15 

6 

10 

16 

10 

18 

8 

20 

15 

14 

2 

17 

8 

7 

5 

10 

3 

12 

I 

10 

I 

4 

0 

5 

I 

9 

Youngest 

12 
II 

3 

7 
6 

5 

4 

4 

3 
2 

2 

2 

2 
4 


Here  again  the  honors  fall  predominantly  to  the  first  member  of 
the  family,  but  whether  the  reasons  are  mainly  biological  or  social 
remains  in  doubt.  ^ 

^  Confirmatory  results  are  yielded  by  Cattell's  studies  of  the  birth  ranks  of 


INFLUENCE   OF  ORDER  OF  BIRTH,  ETC.  311 

Closely  associated  with  the  effect  of  order  of  birth  upon  off- 
spring is  the  problem  of  the  influence  of  parental  age.  This  topic 
has  received  more  or  less  attention  from  the  time  of  Aristotle  to 
the  present.  Various  opinions  have  been  put  forth  with  a  degree 
of  confidence  which  is  often  in  inverse  proportions  to  the  ade- 
quacy of  the  evidence  upon  which  they  were  based.  The  subject 
is  more  difficult  than  appears  upon  the  surface,  and,  like  the  one 
that  has  just  been  discussed,  presents  many  pitfalls.  Without 
troubling  ourselves  with  theories  which  are  unsupported  by 
statistical  data  let  us  consider  some  of  the  more  important 
contributions  to  the  solution  of  our  problem. 

With  the  increasing  age  of  parents  there  is  apparently  an 
increased  percentage  of  abortions  and  stillbirths  if  we  except  the 
offspring  of  very  young  mothers.  Data  from  Paris  and  Buda- 
pest are  given  in  the  following  table  from  Prof.  Gini: 

Relations  of  Age  of  Parents  to  Percentage  of  Abortions  and  Stillbirths 


Age  of  Mother 


15-20.  .  .  . 

20-24 

25-29 

30-34 

35-39 

40-44 

45  or  over 


Paris,  igoj-igog 


Legilhnate 


Miscar- 
riages 


03 
68 
46 
15 
39 
6S 
77 


Still- 
hirths 


1 .72 

2-37 
2.62 

351 
4-33 
6.07 
6.67 


Illegitimate 


Miscar- 
riages 


•14 
.21 

•05 
■23 
•83 
.21 
.76 


Still- 
births 


2.41 

2.88 

3-68 

3.80 

4.14 

5  07', 

9-49  J 


Biida-Pest,  1003-1904 


Legitimate 


Miscar- 
riages 


6.25 

S.os 

II  .42 

14.09 

17.49 


Still- 
births 


1. 61 
1 .90 
2.61 

3-45 


5-39 


Illegitimate 


Miscar- 
riages 


6-39 
11.03 
10.98 

9.62 

8.20 


StiU- 
births 


3" 

4-37 
4-95 

6.61 


Here  it  is  shown  that  with  the  exception  of  some  irregularities 
in  the  first  horizontal  column  giving  the  percentage  of  miscar- 
riages and  stillbirths  of  mothers  below  20  years  of  age,  there  is 
a  general  increase  in  the  percentage  of  both  miscarriages  and 
stillbirths  as  the  age  of   the  mother  increases.     Both  kinds  of 

American  men  of  science  (Sci.,  Mar.  5,  191 7),  and  by  the  (as  yet  unpublished) 
researches  of  two  of  my  students. 


312 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


mortality  are  higher  for  illegitimate  than  they  are  for  legitimate 
births.  More  extensive  data  on  the  proportion  of  stillbirths  per 
hundred  births  are  afforded  by  the  next  table: 

Mortality  of  Infants  According  to  Age  of  Mother 


Age  of  Mother 

A  ustria 

Norway 

Legitimate 

Illegitimate 

Legitimate 

Illegitimate 

France 

Under  17 

17—20 

2.1 

1-7 
1.9 
2.2 

2.8 
3-9 

4.0I 

3  4 
3-9j 

4- 
4-' 

2 

2.09 
1.66 
2-39 
4-17 

452 

2.97 

4.86 

10. 14 

6.9 

20—21; 

4-7 
4.2 
4.2 

4-3 
6.9 
6.6 

aij-^o 

35-40]  ....... 

40-45  J 

45-50 1 

50+    J 

Statistics  from  other  localities  show  much  the  same  trend 
as  those  which  have  been  presented.  That  stillbirths  increase 
in  frequency  as  the  fathers  become  older  may  be  due  not  to  the 
age  of  the  father  but  to  the  fact  that  the  mothers'  ages  are  corre- 
lated with  those  of  their  husbands.  Where  the  age  of  the  mother 
is  eliminated  the  offspring  of  old  fathers  do  not  have  a  much 
higher  ratio  of  stillborn  than  those  of  younger  men.  There  is  also 
an  increase  of  deliveries  requiring  surgical  help  as  the  mothers 
become  older,  exception  being  made  again  of  first  births. 

The  effect  of  the  order  of  birth  is  here  a  complicating  factor. 
First  births,  irrespective  of  parental  age,  show  a  large  percent- 
age of  fatalities.  This  fact  accounts  for  most  of  the  high  mor- 
tality among  the  children  of  very  young  mothers.  The  following 
table  from  Professor  Gini  is  instructive  in  showing  how  the 
percentage  of  stillbirths  is  affected  by  eliminating  the  effects  of 
order  of  birth: 


INFLUENCE  OF  ORDER  OF  BIRTH,  ETC.  313 


Table  Showing  the  Influence  of  the  Age  of  the  Mother  on  Birth  Mortality, 
Eliminating  and  not  Eliminating  the  Effect  of  Order  of  Birth 


Age  of  Mother 

Saxe-Meinungen  (1878-80) 
Taking  birth  mortality 

when  mother  is  35-49  at  100, 

birth  mortality  at  other 

ages  is 

Luxemburg  {iQOi-03) 

Taking  birth  mortality  when 

mother  is  35  and  up  at  100 

birth  mortality  at  other 

ages  is 

Berlin  {18Q3-Q7) 

Taking  birth  mortality  for 

all  births  at  100,  the 

birth  mortality  according  to 

the  age  of  the  mother  is 

Not  eliminating 
order  of  birth 

Eliminating 

order  of 

birth 

Not  eliminating 
order  of  birth 

Eliminating 

order  of 

birth 

Not  eliminating 
order  of  birth 

Eliminating 

order  of 

birth 

Under  20 

20-25 

2S-30 

30-3S 

35-40 

40-45 

45  and        •  •  • 

upwards  J 

66 
68 
68 
80 
100 

210 

32 
42 
S4 
77 
100 

119 

60 
SO 
S4 
69 
88 
123 

ISO 

42 
38 
44 
63 
87 
127 

IS7 

57 
73 
83 
97 
120 

157 

227 

61 

80 

94 

102 

114 

128 

165 

When  the  effect  of  order  of  birth  is  eliminated  there  remains  a 
very  considerable  correlation  between  the  age  of  the  mother  and 
the  percentage  of  stillbirths.  On  the  other  hand,  when  the 
influence  of  maternal  age  is  eliminated  there  is  after  the  first 
birth  little  relationship  between  birth  order  and  ante-natal 
mortality. 

There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  these  effects  of  age  depend 
upon  influences  which  may  be  properly  described  as  hereditary. 
They  may  be  expressive  of  changes  in  the  maternal  organization 
rather  than  any  primary  differences  among  the  offspring.  The 
same  may  be  said  for  the  relation  between  age  of  parents  and 
height  and  weight  of  their  children.  The  younger  mothers  tend 
to  bear  the  smallest  children.  When  we  deal  with  large  numbers 
of  cases  it  is  found  that  there  is  a  slight  increase  of  height  and 
weight  as  the  age  of  mothers  increases.  A  part  of  this  is  due  to 
the  very  evident  increase  of  giant  births  (over  4000  gr.)  with 
increasing  age  of  the  mothers.  (See  Prinzing,  Med.  Statistik, 
p.  52.)  As  Gini  has  shown,  the  apparent  influence  of  age  on  the 
size  of  offspring  is  really  due  mostly  to  order  of  birth.  ''The  age 
of  the  mother,"  he  says,  ''has  no  decisive  influence  of  its  own  on 
the  dimensions  of  the  foetus;  the  increase  which  is  found  in  these 


314 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


dimensions  is  simply  due  to  the  fact  that  the  greater  the  age  of 
the  mother  the  greater  is  the  number  of  previous  deliveries,  and  it 
follows  that  if  the  women  married  as  soon  as  they  were  capable 
of  bearing  children  we  should  expect,  with  a  rise  in  the  fertility, 
an  increase  in  these  dimensions  in  the  foetuses."  {Problems  in 
Eugenics,  II,  1 17-18.) 

With  advancing  age  of  parents  there  is  in  general  a  higher  death 
rate  of  children  in  the  first  year  of  life.  There  is,  however,  a 
preliminary  descent  from  the  earlier  ages  due  probably  to  the 
high  death  rate  of  the  first  born.  The  statistics  studied  by 
Ewart  show  that  the  infant  mortality  falls  "until  the  twenty- 
fourth  year  is  reached  and  then  slowly  rises  again,"  reaching 
its  maximum  in  mothers  of  over  40  years  of  age.  This  is  Indi- 
cated in  the  following  table: 

Infant  Mortality  According  to  Maternal  Age 


Age  of  Mother 

Under  19 

20-24  Inc 

25-29     

30-34  "  

35-39  "  

Over  40  Inc. .  . 


No.  of  Births 


152 
536 
396 
316 

150 
36 


Deaths  in  ist  Year 


26 
66 
66 
74 
34 
12 


Per  1,000  Births 


171 
132 
166 
170 
220 
330 


After  the  initial  fall  the  rise  in  the  infant  death  rate  with  in- 
creasing years  of  the  parents  is  very  striking.  Data  from  New 
South  Wales  from  1893  to  1900  dealing  with  277,799  confinements 
show  a  similar  fall  to  the  20th  year  of  the  mother's  life,  and  a 
gradual  rise  with  later  years,  the  infant  mortality  of  mothers 
above  40  being  over  four  times  as  heavy  as  in  mothers  of  20. 
When  first  births  alone  are  tabulated  there  is  a  similar  fall  until 
the  20th  year  is  reached,  after  which  there  is  a  rise,  as  is  indi- 
cated by  the  following  table  based  on  56,247  first  births: 


INFLUENCE  OF  ORDER  OF  BIRTH,  ETC.  315 

Mortality  of  First  Births  According  to  Age  of  Mother  (Gini) 

Taking  Mortality  from  ig-21  Years  as  100,  the 
Age  of  Mother  Mortality  of  the  Respective  Ages  Becomes 

19  or  less 118 

20           80 

21-22    no 

23-24  120 

25-26   125 

27-28   141 

29-34   228 

35-39   209 

40+     480 

It  appears  to  be  evident  that  when  we  make  allowance  for  the 
unusual  difficulties  of  the  first  birth,  the  increase  of  infant  mor- 
tality as  the  age  of  the  mothers  increases  is  due  mainly  to  ma- 
ternal age  and  not  to  the  birth  rank  of  the  children.  Birth  rank 
per  se  after  the  first  one  or  two  births  has  little  apparent  relation 
to  infant  mortality. 

It  is  contended  that  parental  age  is  related  not  merely  to 
infant  mortality,  but  to  mortality  of  later  ages  as  well.  Gini 
states  on  the  basis  of  returns  from  Budapest  (1903-08)  that  the 
percentage  of  children  who  die  before  the  death  of  one  of  the  par- 
ents diminishes  with  the  rise  of  age  at  marriage  of  the  father  and 
increases  with  the  rise  of  age  at  marriage  of  the  mother  when  it 
is  more  than  20  years.  Data  from  New  South  Wales  also  indicate 
that  women  who  marry  later,  despite  the  shorter  duration  of  their 
marriage  and  their  diminished  expectation  of  life,  actually  witness 
the  death  of  more  of  their  children  than  do  women  who  marry 
younger.  As  a  very  large  part  of  the  greater  mortality  of  the 
children  of  late  married  mothers  is  due  to  infant  mortality  it  is 
doubtful  how  much  the  later  life  of  the  children  is  really  affected. 
Ewart  gives  some  statistics  of  the  relation  between  age  of  the 
mother  and  the  height  and  weight  of  children  when  they  have 
reached  six  years  of  age.    The  six  year  old  children  of  very  young 


3i6  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

mothers  (20  or  less)  are  shorter  and  lighter  than  the  children  of 
mothers  a  few  years  older.  In  mothers  over  25  the  height  and 
weight  of  children  diminished  with  advancing  age.  A  somewhat 
similar  relationship  is  seen  in  children  at  13.5  years.  The  data  of 
Professor  Ewart,  since  they  deal  with  only  a  few  hundred  cases  of 
mixed  stocks,  are  entirely  inadequate  to  solve  the  problem  of  how 
age  of  parents  affects  the  offspring  in  later  years.  In  such  an 
investigation  there  are  several  sources  of  fallacious  conclusions. 
Consider  for  instance  the  presence  of  a  number  of  Italians  in  the 
population  studied.  The  Italians  are  characterized  by  short 
stature  and  they  are  prone  to  marry  early.  The  children  of 
young  mothers  would  be  apt  to  include  a  relatively  large  propor- 
tion of  Italian  stock.  Now  if  we  compare  the  height  of  these 
children  in  later  life  with  the  average  height  of  children  of  older 
parents  we  might  be  misled  into  attributing  to  parental  age  a 
characteristic  really  dependent  upon  race.  Children  of  older 
parents  are,  other  things  equal,  members  of  larger  families  than 
children  of  young  parents.  Large  families  tend  to  characterize 
stocks  in  the  lower  walks  of  life  in  which  the  surroundings  are  less 
hygienic  and  in  which  conditions  for  growth  are  less  favorable 
than  among  people  with  small  families.  By  taking  a  random  lot 
of  children  begotten  by  old  parents  we  should  get  a  proportion- 
ately large  number  of  children  from  large  families,  especially  since 
the  relatively  recent  reduction  of  the  birth  rate  has  occurred 
mainly  through  preventing  the  arrival  of  those  who  would  be  later 
born  children.  Selecting  the  children  of  old  parents,  therefore, 
incidentally  involves  also  a  selection  of  stocks  and  to  a  certain 
degree  also  a  selection  of  environments.  These  sources  of  erro- 
neous interpretation  of  statistics, — to  say  nothing  of  others — 
must  be  borne  in  mind  in  the  study  of  our  problem. 

Mr.  Redfield  has  reported  investigations  on  the  influences 
of  parental  age  on  longevity  of  oft'spring  which  led  him  to  con- 
clude that  children  begotten  when  their  parents  are  old  live 
longer,  on  the  average,  than  children  who  are  the  product  of  their 
parents'  earlier  years.  He  has  calculated  the  length  of  life  of  all 
the  great  men  of  whom  he  could  obtain  a  record  of  the  birth 


INFLUENCE  OF  ORDER  OF  BIRTH,  ETC.  317 

ranks,  and  finds  that  the  sons  of  old  fathers  live  longer  than  the 
sons  of  young  fathers.  He  also  studied  the  longevity  of  1,104 
persons  from  families  of  four  or  more  children  who  lived  to  adult 
life.  From  these  persons  "among  whom  those  having  high  birth 
ranks  were  brothers  and  sisters  of  those  having  low  birth  ranks, 
it  was  found  that  there  was  a  very  uniform  increase  in  length  of 
life  as  birth  ranks  grew  higher,"  an  addition  of  four  years  to  the 
age  of  the  father  added  one  year  to  the  life  of  the  child. 

In  regard  to  the  parentage  of  great  men,  Redfield  remarks: 
"It  may  be  argued  that  the  sons  of  old  men  are  necessarily  the 
sons  of  long  lived  parents,  while  the  sons  of  young  men  are  the 
sons  of  both  long  lived  and  short  lived  parents,  and  consequently 
cannot  be  expected  to  live  so  long  on  an  average."  This  objec- 
tion, while  sounding  reasonable,  Redfield  attempts  to  show  is 
fallacious.  In  order  to  do  so  he  selected  from  the  Redfield  gene- 
alogy "every  family  which  had  four  or  more  sons  who  reached 
maturity  and  who  did  not  lose  their  lives  because  of  war  or 
accident."  The  average  life  of  the  different  sons  is  indicated  as 
follows: 


Years . 


Eldest  Son 

2nd  Son 

3rd  Son 

4th  Son 

60.85 

69.14 

69.85 

71.14 

"There  can  be  no  selection  in  this  case,"  says  Redfield,  ''  because 
the  different  sons  of  the  family  are  sons  of  identical  parents,  and 
not  sons  of  different  or  selected  parents." 

Despite  the  plausibility  of  his  contention  I  cannot  feel  sure 
that  Redfield  has  succeeded  in  avoiding  our  deceptive  enemy,  the 
statistical  fallacy.  If  he  has  averaged  together  the  ages  of  sons 
belonging  to  fathers  of  certain  age  groups  without  regard  to  date 
of  marriage  or  other  circumstances,  he  may  have  obtained  quite 
misleading  results.  Young  parents  marry  early  and  older  parents 
as  a  class  must  contain  many  who  married  late  and  whose  four 
children,  therefore,  belong  to  the  later  part  of  their  reproductive 
period.  It  is  possible  to  have  a  number  of  families  in  each  of 
which  the  age  of  successively  born  children  regularly  diminishes 
and  yet  when  the  ages  of  the  children  are  averaged  together  there 


3i8  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

would  be  a  regular  average  increase  of  age  according  to  the  order 
of  their  birth.  Let  us  consider  families  of  four  children  the 
fathers  marrying  at  the  ages  of  20,  25,  30,  and  35.  Suppose  these 
fathers,  by  virtue  of  differences  in  inherited  vitality,  live  to  the 
ages  of  40,  45,  50,  and  55  years,  respectively.  Suppose  also  that 
at  intervals  of  five  years  each  father  has  a  son  who  lived  to  be 
several  years  older  than  himself.  We  may  represent  the  ages  of 
the  four  fathers  A,  B,  C,  and  D  at  the  time  of  the  birth  of  their 
sons  in  the  upper  horizontal  column  and  the  ages  of  the  sons 
begotten  at  these  respective  ages  immediately  below. 

A 20        25        30  35 

Age  of  son                          40        39        38  37 

B 25        30  35  40 

Age  of  son                                       45         44  43  42 

C 30  35  40        45 

Age  of  son                   50  49  48   47 

D 35  40   45    50 

Age  of  son  55  54         53         52 

Averages  of  sons 40        42        44        46        48        50        52 

In  the  cases  of  these  four  families  thus  arbitrarily  chosen  the 
sons  in  each  family  have  a  diminished  duration  of  life  as  the  age 
of  their  fathers  increases,  but  their  average  ages  give  an  entirely 
misleading  indication  of  the  relation  of  parental  age  to  longevity 
of  offspring.  In  our  table  the  older  fathers  produce  the  older  sons, 
but  the  influence  of  age  per  se  is  to  reduce  the  son's  expectation  of 
life.  Of  course,  the  supposition  we  have  made  is  very  artificial 
and  arbitrary,  but  it  will  make  it  clear,  I  think,  that  the  data 
which  Redfield  presents  do  not  necessarily  prove  his  case,  or 
obviate  the  objection  which  he  admits  might  plausibly  be  urged 
against  his  conclusions.  The  arbitrary  assumption  may  be  not 
far  from  the  truth,  however,  since  stocks  which  marry  early, 
such  as  unskilled  laborers,  do  not  have  as  great  longevity  as 
stocks  which,  like  the  professional  classes,  marry  late  in  life.^ 

The  chief  thesis  of  Redfield's  book  on  The  Control  of  Heredity 

*  And  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  decline  in  the  general  rate  of  mortality 
tends  to  give  the  later  bora  members  of  a  family  a  greater  expectation  of  life. 


INFLUENCE  OF  ORDER  OF  BIRTH,  ETC.  319 

is  that  able  sons  are  predominantly  the  offspring  of  fathers  who 
were  old  at  the  time  of  their  son's  birth  or  else  that  the  more 
recent  ancestors  of  the  able  sons  were  of  advanced  age.  This 
general  principle,  according  to  Redfield,  can  only  be  accounted  for 
on  the  ground  that  children  inherit  the  mental  power  which  their 
parents  have  acquired.  Since  older  parents  have  reached  a  higher 
degree  of  intellectual  development  than  younger  parents  their 
children,  it  is  held,  will  consequently  tend  to  be  of  superior 
mental  ability.  To  breed  a  race  of  high  intellectual  power  early 
marriages  should  be  discouraged  and  children  should  be  pro- 
created by  parents  who  have  attained  their  best  physical  and 
mental  development.  "  Children  of  young  parents,"  we  are  told, 
"are  lacking  in  physical  stamina  and  mental  power.  They  are 
reckless,  careless,  sometimes  vicious  and  frequently  drift  into 
drunkenness  and  crime.  From  this  class  comes  the  principal 
part  of  our  criminals,  paupers  and  prostitutes." 

It  is  quite  evidently  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  principal 
part  of  our  criminals,  paupers  and  prostitutes  come  from  youth- 
ful parents.  People  who  furnish  our  supply  of  these  undesirables 
tend  to  reproduce  early  it  is  true;  they  also  tend  to  keep  on 
reproducing  after  the  people  of  superior  status  have  begun  to 
limit  their  families.  There  is  no  adequate  reason  for  concluding 
that  youth  of  parents  per  se  is  responsible  for  the  degenerate 
heredity  of  the  offspring.  These  people  marry  early  or  reproduce 
young  because  they  are  of  poor  stock;  they  are  not  necessarily  of 
poor  stock  because  they  marry  young. 

We  may  make  a  parallel  statement  in  regard  to  the  parents  of 
superior  men.  Redfield  tells  us  that  men  of  ability  come  from 
parents  who  are  above  the  age  of  the  parents  of  the  rank  and  file 
of  humanity.  This  is  to  a  considerable  extent  true  of  the  age 
at  marriage  of  stocks  from  which  great  men  are  apt  to  arise. 
As  a  glance  through  such  works  as  Galton's  Hereditary  Genius, 
Ellis'  Study  oj  British  Genius,  Galton  and  Schuster's  Noteworthy 
Families,  or  Cattell's  articles  on  the  Families  of  Atnerican  Men 
of  Science  ^  will  show,  the  parents  of  distinguished  men  belong 

*  Sci.  Mon,  4  and  5,  1917. 


320 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


to  a  class  who  marry  comparatively  late.  It  does  not  follow  that 
men  attain  unusual  ability  because  their  parents  were  relatively 
mature  at  the  time  these  men  were  born.  The  correlation  between 
ability  and  parental  age  is  probably  due  mainly  to  the  later  mar- 
riages of  stocks  of  superior  hereditary  ability. 

Naturally  if  ability  is  a  product  of  parental  age  we  should 
expect  that  the  later  born  members  of  a  family  would  most  fre- 
quently become  distinguished.  It  is  not  difficult  to  amass  a  con- 
siderable number  of  cases  in  which  this  is  true.  The  evidence 
compiled  by  Redfield,  however,  may  be  ofTset  by  the  data  gath- 
ered by  Ellis  in  the  Study  of  British  Genius  to  which  reference  has 
already  been  made.  The  relation  of  frequency  of  genius  to 
parental  age  is  given  by  Ellis  as  follows: 


Genius  and  Parental  Age. 


Age  of  Father 

Under 

20 

20-24 

25-29 

30-34 

35-39 

40-44 

45-49 

50-54 

55-59 

60 
and  over 

No.  of  fathers. .  . 
Percentage 

2 

6 

9 
3 

45 
15 

81 
27 

59 
19 

44 
14 

30 
10 

13 

4 

8 
2 

8 
2 

25- 

30- 

35- 

40- 

45- 

50- 

15 

34 

22 

17 

7 

4 

The  ages  of  the  fathers  of  100  cases  of  Galton's  British  men  of 
science  were  as  follows: 

Age  of  father 20- 

Number i 

The  average  ages  of  Galton's,  Ellis'  and  Yoder's  list  of  fathers 
(the  latter  based  on  39  cases)  were  36,  37.1,  and  37.78  years 
respectively.  These  differ  but  little  from  the  averages  of  fathers 
of  men  of  professional  and  allied  classes  given  by  Ansell  in  1874, 
viz.,  36.5.  Geniuses  are  evidently  not  the  product  of  senility  to 
any  very  considerable  degree.  Within  the  several  families,  so  far 
as  our  rather  incomplete  statistics  go,  actually  more  of  them  fall 
into  the  ranks  of  the  ist  born  (and  hence  the  production  of  the 
earlier  years  of  the  father's  life)  than  in  any  subsequent  birth 
rank. 

Mention  may  be  made  of  the  studies  of  Professor  A.  Marro 


INFLUENCE  OF  ORDER  OF  BIRTH,  ETC.  321 

which  have  often  been  quoted  in  discussions  of  this  subject. 
Among  the  parents  of  456  criminals  it  was  found  that  both  young 
and  old  parents  produced  more  criminals  than  were  born  from 
people  of  maturity  (20-40  years).  Thieves  predominate  among 
the  children  of  young  parents  while  swindlers  and  those  guilty 
of  crimes  of  violence  were  more  common  among  the  children  of 
parents  of  over  40  years.  Studies  of  the  intelligence  of  917 
school  children  in  relation  to  the  age  of  their  fathers  gave  a  high 
percentage  with  good  intelligence  from  fathers  below  25  years. 
The  children  of  young  mothers  (21  years  or  less)  were  found  to 
produce  about  as  high  percentage  of  intelligent  pupils  as  the 
children  of  young  fathers.  The  very  superior  children,  however, 
were  somewhat  more  frequently  born  of  parents  of  mature  age. 
Children  of  old  parents  made  in  general  the  poorest  showing. 
However,  the  children  of  old  fathers  made  the  best  record  in 
respect  to  conduct  at  school,  but  curiously  enough  the  children 
of  older  mothers  were  the  worst  of  all.  It  is  noteworthy  that 
the  relation  between  intelligence  of  offspring  and  age  of  parents 
is  just  the  reverse  of  what  it  is  claimed  by  Rediield,  and  the 
relation  of  crime  to  parental  age  seems  to  be  at  variance  with 
the  findings  of  Goring  who  found  that  criminals  were  especially 
frequent  among  the  first  born. 

There  is  so  much  opportunity  for  social  factors  to  affect  such 
results  as  were  found  by  Marro  that  any  real  biological  influence 
of  parental  age  is  not  apparent.  Grouping  of  parents  into  young 
and  old  necessarily  involves  to  a  certain  degree  a  selection  of 
stock.  This  circumstance  together  with  the  environmental  factors 
which  are  also  more  or  less  different  for  the  children  of  old 
and  young  parents  may  influence  to  a  considerable  degree  the 
intelligence  and  conduct  of  school  children  and  even  proclivities 
to  crime  in  later  years. 

Undue  frequency  of  births  is  undoubtedly  correlated  with 
the  high  early  death  rate  of  children.  Data  compiled  by  Ansell 
from  well-to-do  English  families  showed  that  where  the  interval 
between  births  was  less  than  a  year  the  infant  mortality  was 
nearly  twice  as  great  as  when  the  interval  was  between  one  and 


322  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

two  years,  and  over  twice  as  great  when  the  interval  was  over 
two  years.  There  was  also  a  slightly  greater  death  rate  between 
the  first  and  fifth  years  when  the  intervals  between  births  were 
short,  but  the  difi"erences  were  slight.  Ewart  has  adduced  data  to 
show  that  frequent  births  handicap  offspring  both  physically  and 
intellectually  even  at  six  years  of  age.  The  initial  inferiority 
of  children  resulting  from  too  frequent  births  is  probably  due 
in  large  part  to  the  reduced  vitality  of  the  mother.  The  rela- 
tively poorer  intellectual  development  which  has  been  noted 
(and  our  data  on  this  score  are  hardly  sufficient  to  warrant  a 
general  conclusion)  may  be  due  largely  to  the  selection  of  stocks. 
The  people  who  exercise  no  control  over  the  rapidity  of  their 
multiplication  are  not  apt  to  produce  children  who  excel  in  tests 
of  intellectual  development. 

It  is  uncertain  that  any  of  the  agencies  considered  in  the  present 
rather  unsatisfactory  chapter  cause  any  changes  that  may  prop- 
erly be  called  hereditary.  They  may  influence  offspring,  possibly 
throughout  life,  but  it  is  probable  that  their  effects  are  mostly 
purely  somatic.  It  is  possible  that  parental  age,  for  instance, 
might  influence  selective  fertilization,  or  the  selective  elimination 
of  embryos.  Since  an  old  body  affords  an  environment  for  the 
germ  plasm  different  in  many  ways  from  that  afforded  by  a  young 
body,  it  is  not  improbable  that  this  circumstance  might  be  re- 
flected in  the  trend  of  germinal  variability.  It  might  be  con- 
jectured that  whatever  causes  the  vitality  of  our  bodies  to  run 
down  with  advancing  years  might  also  affect  the  germ  plasm  in 
a  deleterious  manner.  But  there  is  little  use  at  present  in  indulg- 
ing in  mere  conjectures.  Experiments  on  animals  may  throw 
light  on  some  of  these  matters  about  which  we  are  now  in  com- 
plete ignorance. 

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1912. 
Bell,  A.  G.     The  Duration  of  Life  and  the  Conditions  associated  with  Longevity. 

Washington,  D.  C,  1918. 


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Boas,  F.    The  Growth  of  First-Bom  Children.    Science,  n.  s.  i,  202-204,  1895. 
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Cobb,  J.  A.    The  Alleged  Inferiority  of  the  First-Born.    Eugen.  Rev.  5,  357-359, 

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1913;  Ueber  die  Minderwertigkeit  der  erstgebomen  Kinder.    Arch.  Ras.  Ges. 

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219,  1918. 
Macaulay,  T.  B.    The  Supposed  Inferiority  of  the  First-Born.    Statistical  Fallacies, 

17,  pp.  4,  Montreal.    See  also  Am.  Breeders'  Mag.  2,  165-175,  1911. 
Marro,  A.    I  Caratteri  dei  Delinquenti.  Bocca,  Rome,  1887.    La  Puberta,  Bocca, 

Turin,  2d  ed.  1900;  Influence  of  the  Age  of  Parents  on  the  Psycho-physical 

Characters  of  the  Children.    Problems  in  Eugenics,  11S-136,  1912. 
Niceforo,  A.    La  Misura  della  Vita.  Riv.  di  Antropol.  18,  1913. 
Pearson,  K.    On  the  Handicapping  of  the  First-Bom.     Eug.  Lab.  Lect.  Ser.  10, 

1914.    A  First  Study  of  the  Statistics  of  Pulmonary  Tuberculosis.    Studies  in 

Nat.  Deterioration,  2,  1910. 
Ploetz,  A.    Zusammenhang  der  Sterblichkeit  der  Kinder  mit  dem  Lebensalter 

der  Eltern,  etc..  Arch.  Rass.  Ges.  Biol.  8,  761-63  ,1911-    See  1.  c.  6,  33-43, 

1909. 
Popenoe,  P.    The  Long  Lived  First-Born.    Jour.  Heredity,  7,  395-398,  1916. 


324         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

Redfield,  C.  L.  The  Control  of  Heredity.  Monarch  Book  Co.,  Chicago  and  Phil- 
adelphia, 1903;  Dynamic  Evolution,  Putnam's  Sons,  N.  Y.,  1914. 

Rev6sz,  B.  Der  Einfluss  des  Alters  der  Matter  auf  die  Korperhohe.  Arch.  f. 
Anthrop.  32,  160-167,  1906. 

Rivers,  W.  C.  Primogeniture  and  Abnormality:  A  Possible  Fallacy.  Eugen.  Rev. 
6,  58-61,  1914. 

Strahan,  S.  A.  K.    Marriage  and  Disease,  Appleton  and  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1892. 

Seigert,  F.  Der  MongoHsmus.  Ergeb.  neuren  Med.  u.  Kinderheilkunde,  6,  565- 
600,  1911. 

Vaerting,  M.  Das  giinstigste  Zeugimgsalter  fiir  die  geistige  Fahigkelt  der  Nachkom- 
men.,  C.  Kabitsch,  Wiirzburg,  1913,  pp.  63.  See  alsoNeue  Generation,  1914 
and  1916. 

Velden,  F.  von  den.  Der  Einfluss  des  Heiratsalters  auf  die  Beschaffenheit  der 
Nachkommenschaft.  Polit.-Anthrop.  Rev.  8,  1908;  Die  Minderwertigkeit  der 
Erstgebornen.  Arch.  Rass.  Ges.  Biol.  5,  526-530,  1908;  AUerlei  Fragen  der 
menschlichen  Fortpflanzungshygiene;  Einfluss  von  Geburtenzwischenraum 
Unehelichkeit  und  Spaterzeugung  auf  die  Konstitutionskraft  der  Kinder. 
Arch.  Rass.  Ges.  Biol.  7,  57-64,  1910. 

Weinberg,  W.  Zur  Frage  der  Minderwertigkert  der  Erstgeborenen.  Med.  Reform, 
18,  Nr.  23;  Kurtzsichtigkeit  und  Erstgeburt.    Arch.  Rass.  Ges.  Biol.  10,  326- 

327,  1913- 
Westergaard,  H.    Die  Lehre  von  der  Mortalitat  und  Morbiditat.    Fischer,  Jena, 
1901. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  RACIAL  INFLUENCE  OF  INDUSTRIAL 
DEVELOPMENT. 

"A  few  good  and  healthy  merij  rather  than  a  multitude  of  diseased 
rogues;  and  a  little  real  milk  and  wine  rather  than  much  chalk  and 
petroleum;  but  the  gist  of  the  whole  business  is,  that  the  men,  and 
their  property,  must  both  be  produced  together — not  one  to  the  loss  of 
the  other.  Property  must  not  be  created  in  lands  desolate  by  exile  of 
their  people, — nor  multipUed  and  depraved  humanity,  in  lands  barren 
of  bread." — Ruskin,  The  Queen  of  the  Air. 

It  is  obvious  that  many  of  the  most  potent  of  the  factors 
which  influence  the  inherited  qualities  of  man  are  the  result  of  the 
great  industrial  development  which  has  taken  place  during  the 
past  century.  To  give  an  adequate  account  of  the  complex  and 
indirect  ways  in  which  the  growth  of  modern  industr>^  has  affected 
the  development  of  the  race  is  at  present  an  impossible  task. 
Even  most  of  the  simpler  problems  cannot  be  solved  with  the 
data  at  present  available,  and  where  the  immediate  result  of 
certain  forces  seems  fairly  obvious  there  are  commonly  secondary 
and  more  indirect  effects  to  be  considered  which  stand  in  various 
relations  with,  and  sometimes  in  direct  antagonism  to,  the 
primary  ones. 

The  magnitude  and  rapidity  of  the  changes  which  industrial 
development  has  effected  in  the  institutions  of  mankind  tend  to 
divert  attention  from  the  more  obscure  biological  problems  with 
which  they  are  associated.  It  will  perhaps  be  useful  to  fonnulate 
some  of  these  problems,  although  we  may  not  be  able  to  contrib- 
ute much  to  their  solution. 

Among  the  more  immediate  effects  of  industrial  development 
are  (i)  the  increase  of  population  in  many  countries  which  has 
been  rendered  possible  by  the  creation  of  additional  occupations 
and  the  expansion  of  trade;  (2)  the  growth  and  multiplicadon  of 

32s 


326  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

industries  which  greatly  affect  the  differential  death  rate  of 
relatively  large  numbers  of  the  population;  (3)  the  growth  of 
cities  with  the  resulting  subjection  of  their  inhabitants  to  a 
changed  and  often  deleterious  environment  and  mode  of  life; 
(4)  the  effect  of  economic  factors  on  the  marriage  and  birth  rates 
of  different  stocks;  and  (5)  the  possible  influence  of  altered 
en\dronmental  factors  on  the  trend  of  germinal  variability. 

We  shall  consider  briefly  these  different  topics,  although 
it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  they  are  closely  interrelated. 
The  striking  increase  of  the  populations  of  civilized  countries 
during  the  19th  century  is  in  large  part  due  to  the  application  of 
science  to  industry  which  has  increased  enormously  the  wealth 
with  w^hich  nature  has  been  compelled  to  reward  the  labors  of 
man.  To  a  large  extent  also  this  increase  of  population  has 
resulted  from  the  reduction  of  the  death  rate  which  has  followed 
the  advances  made  in  medicine,  surgery,  and  especially  those 
branches  of  hygiene  which  are  concerned  with  the  control  of 
infections  and  epidemics.  But  whatever  progress  is  made  in  the 
art  of  saving  life,  the  population  of  a  country  must  obviously  be 
limited  by  the  resources  furnished  by  nature  for  human  subsist- 
ence. The  yield  of  nature  has  been  greatly  increased  by  the 
application  of  scientific  discovery.  Improvements  in  mining, 
manufacturing,  agriculture  and  transportation  make  it  possible 
for  the  earth  to  support  a  greatly  increased  number  of  inhabi- 
tants, and  human  population  even  now  comes  sufficiently' near 
obeying  the  law  of  Malthus  to  respond  to  the  opportunities  thus 
created  for  its  maintenance. 

Through  the  increase  of  numbers  which  industrial  development 
has  made  possible  those  races  and  peoples  among  whom  such 
development  has  reached  a  higher  stage  are  enabled,  by  war  or 
otherwise,  to  prevail  over  races  and  peoples  on  a  lower  industrial 
level.  The  Anglo-Saxon  has  doubtless  been  aided  in  extending 
his  domain  on  account  of  the  very  rapid  growth  of  the  population 
of  Great  Britain  which  followed  upon  the  unprecedented  develop- 
ment of  her  industries.  The  great  economic  development  of 
Germany,  by  creating  opportunities  for  her  people  at  home  and 


INFLUENCE  OF  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT      327 

thereby  checking  her  losses  to  other  lands  through  emigration, 
has  constituted  a  great  element  of  strength  to  the  empire,  that 
might  have  resulted  in  an  accelerated  expansion  of  her  dominion 
and  a  further  increase  of  her  population  had  the  outcome  of  the 
war  been  more  in  accordance  with  her  plans.  Such  effects  of  in- 
dustrial development  are  the  first  results  which  follow  upon  the 
natural  response  of  life  to  an  increased  means  of  support.  But 
while  increased  production  of  wealth  allows  more  individuals  to 
gain  a  subsistence  and  may  lead  to  national  expansion,  it  sets  into 
operation  several  influences  which  may  deteriorate  the  quality  of 
the  expanding  people.  At  the  same  time  other  tendencies  are 
brought  into  play  whose  effect  on  the  people  is  in  the  direction  of 
racial  improvement. 

One  complex  set  of  factors  may  be  grouped  under  the  general 
heading  of  occupational  selection,  or  the  differential  death  rate 
among  the  employees  of  various  industries.  It  is  well  known  that 
the  average  expectation  of  life  varies  greatly  among  those  engaged 
in  different  occupations.  A  considerable  mass  of  data  on  this 
subject  has  been  compiled  in  the  census  reports  of  several  coun- 
tries and  by  life  insurance  companies.  The  racial  effects  of 
occupational  selection  depend  upon  what  relations  exist  between 
innate  qualities  and  the  choice  of  means  of  livelihood.  Were  those 
who  follow  different  trades  and  professions  recruited  indifferently 
from  all  types  it  would  be  of  no  racial  significance  how  rates  of 
mortality  are  distributed.  But  people  not  only  select  occupa- 
tions, but  occupations  select  people.  Different  occupations 
demand  various  degrees  of  intelligence,  reliability  and  diligence, 
to  say  nothing  of  different  physical  qualities,  such  as  strength, 
endurance  and  quickness.  There  is  no  likelihood  that  a  born 
dullard  will  become  a  captain  of  industry  and  a  weakling  by 
nature  is  not  apt  to  qualify  as  a  stevedore  or  structural  iron 
worker.  To  a  considerable  extent  the  choice  of  an  occupation  is  a 
fortuitous  matter,  depending  upon  tradition,  education  and  the 
kinds  of  industry  represented  in  a  given  time  and  place.  Occupa- 
tions are  frequently  changed,  especially  those  requiring  little 
skill  and  training.    But  notwithstanding  a  large  element  of  purely 


328  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

fortuitous  circumstance,  there  is  doubtless  a  certain  correlation 
between  the  kind  of  emplo^inent  followed  and  inborn  quality. 
As  a  result  of  the  nature  and  diversity  of  industr}^,  human  beings 
are  forced  into  lines  of  activity  which  very  materially  shorten  life 
or  cause  a  high  percentage  of  accidental  deaths.  The  differential 
death  rate  associated  with  various  occupations  is  therefore  a 
matter  affecting  the  character  of  our  racial  inheritance. 

The  racial  effects  of  occupational  mortality  vary  greatly  from 
industry  to  industr}\  In  many  cases  the  result  is  doubtless 
dysgenic.  Dangerous  trades  which  draw  workmen  of  skill  and 
capacity  are  racially  bad.  The  high  mortality  among  locomotive 
firemen,  iron  workers,  glass  blowers,  workers  in  porcelain,  lead 
and  copper  represents  a  loss  of  an  inheritance  of  at  least  good 
average  quality.  Occupations  which  draw  and  exterminate  the 
more  incompetent  types  may  on  the  other  hand  be  regarded  as  a 
racial  benefit. 

Statistics  on  the  average  expectation  of  life  of  the  followers  of 
different  trades  and  professions  cannot  always  be  accepted  as  an 
index  of  the  relative  healthfulness  of  the  occupation  in  question. 
Those  pursuits  which  are  entered  upon  relatively  late  in  life,  such 
as  the  learned  professions,  tend  to  show  an  increased  expectation 
of  life  because  cases  of  death  before  the  professional  career  is 
begun  are  not  included.  The  average  duration  of  life  among 
casual  laborers  is  decreased  by  the  occurrence  of  many  deaths  in 
the  ages  below  20  years,  but  this  would  not  be  the  case  among 
clergymen  or  physicians.  An  index  of  occupational  mortality 
which  is  better  than  the  average  age  of  death  is  afforded  by  the 
mortality  at  various  ages  of  life. 

The  actual  death  rate  among  the  followers  of  any  occupation 
is  a  result  of  two  sets  of  factors:  (i)  Those  concerned  with  the 
occupation  itself,  and  (2)  those  depending  upon  the  kind  of 
human  material  the  occupation  selects.  Of  the  first,  the  whole- 
someness  of  the  occupation  itself  is  of  prime  importance.  Many 
trades  cause  a  slow  poisoning  of  those  engaged  in  them.  The 
disastrous  results  that  follow  work  in  lead  industries  have  already 
been  commented  on.     Phosphorus  poisoning  is  not  uncommon 


INFLUENCE  OF  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT     329 


Mean  Annual  Death  Rates  per  1,000  Males  of  Diferent  Occupations  in 

England  and  Wales,  igoo-02 


Occupations 


Clerg3anen 

Physicians 

Schoolmasters 

Farm  laborers 

Imikeepers 

Coal  miners 

Tin  miners 

Carpenters 

File  makers 

Farmers 

Potters 

Fishermen 

Barristers 

General   shopkeepers 


Age  Groups 

25-35 

35-45 

45-65 

2.72 

4.09 

15-53 

5 

58 

10 

56 

23  87 

3 

64 

5 

54 

15-76 

4 

34 

6 

36 

13 

87 

22 

^0 

35  90 

5 

08 

7 

97 

23.22 

13 

34 

27 

14 

51-64 

4 

76 

8 

30 

20.03 

9 

70 

18 

96 

40.04 

4 

07 

5 

90 

14.82 

5 

49 

14 

95 

39.12 

8 

44 

12 

44 

18.63 

4 

88 

7 

59 

18.29 

II 

08 

20 

71 

30.17 

among  the  makers  of  matches,  and  many  other  industries  take  a 
high  toll  of  their  operatives  as  is  shown  by  Oliver  in  his  Diseases 
of  Occupation  and  in  his  Dangerous  Trades. 

Other  bad  effects  are  due  not  so  much  to  the  occupation  itself 
as  to  other  circumstances  associated  with  it,  such  as  poor  ventila- 
tion, dust,  liability  to  contagion,  and  incitement  to  intemperance 
as  is  evinced  by  the  high  mortality  of  innkeepers  and  tavern 
keepers  in  England.  Undoubtedly  one  of  the  chief  factors  in 
mortality  is  remuneration.  Upon  this  depends  the  character  of 
the  lodging  occupied,  the  quality  of  food,  proper  medical  atten- 
dance during  illness  and  many  other  advantages  of  a  more  in- 
direct kind.  Other  things  equal,  in  industry,  the  poorer  the  pay 
the  higher  the  death  rate,  although  it  is  of  course  only  a  part  of 
the  truth  to  say  that  the  high  death  rate  is  because  of  the  poor 
pay. 


330  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

Excluding  a  few  dangerous  or  particularly  unsanitary  employ- 
ments it  is  probable  that  the  most  potent  factor  in  occupational 
selection  is  furnished  by  the  quality  of  human  material  employed. 
The  character  of  the  men  and  women  engaged  is  dependent  upon 
their  heredity  and  previous  history.  Undoubtedly,  through  no 
fault  of  their  own,  multitudes  of  human  beings  of  good  inheritance 
but  born  in  unfavorable  surroundings,  deprived  of  educational 
advantages,  and  stultified  by  early  hard  labor  are  forced  into  the 
ranks  of  the  unskilled  and  poorly  paid  laboring  class.  The  rela- 
tively high  death  rate  of  such  individuals  is  racially  disadvan- 
tageous. But  undoubtedly  the  ranks  of  casual  and  unskilled 
laborers  are  recruited  much  more  than  those  of  skilled  trades  and 
professions  from  individuals  who  have  not  been  blessed  with 
inherited  gifts.  If  we  consider  for  a  moment  the  almost  inevitable 
industrial  fate  of  the  rank  and  file  of  those  who  are  mentally  below 
par  it  will  become  evident  that  conditions  could  scarcely  be 
otherwise.  The  subnormal  individual  usually  fails  to  acquire 
anything  more  than  the  mere  rudiments  of  education.  He  is 
generally  lacking  in  initiative  and  enterprise ;  and  since  weakness 
of  character  is  the  usual  concomitant  of  defective  intellect,  he  is 
not  apt  to  exhibit  those  qualities  of  persistence,  rehability,  and 
application  which  contribute  so  greatly  to  the  industrial  value 
of  an  employee. 

One  effect  of  industrial  development  which  cannot  fail  to 
affect  in  one  way  or  another  the  inherited  qualities  of  mankind  is 
the  unprecedented  growth  of  cities  which  has  occurred  during  the 
last  hundred  years  in  the  most  advanced  nations  of  the  earth. 
The  following  table  presents  a  bald  outline  of  the  percentage  of 
population  of  several  countries  living  in  cities  of  10,000  or  more 
inhabitants  at  three  periods,  1800,1850  and  1890. 

In  all  these  countries  the  growth  of  cities  has  been  relatively 
fast  as  compared  with  the  increase  of  the  rural  population.  In 
England  and  Wales  where  there  was  a  large  urban  population  in 
the  beginning  of  the  19th  century  the  relative  increase  in  the  size 
of  cities  is  about  as  rapid  as  in  most  other  countries.  In  fact,  the 
English  census  of  189 1  reports  an  actual  decrease  of  population  in 


INFLUENCE  OF  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT     331 


Percentage  of  Urban  Population  of  Different  Countries 


England  and  Wales 

Belgium 

Prussia 

U.  S 

France 

Russia 


1800 

1850 

21.30 

39-45 

135 

20.8 

7-25 

10.63 

3-8 

12. 

9-5 

14.4 

3-7 

S-2, 

18  go 

61 -73 
34-8 

30. 
27.6 

25-9 
9  3(1885) 


271  out  of  632  districts  in  England  and  Wales  since  the  previous 
enumeration;  in  202  of  these  there  had  been  a  decrease  also  in  the 
decade  from  1871-81.  In  Ireland  the  urban  population  has 
increased  while  the  population  of  the  country  as  a  whole  has 
diminished,  the  urban  population  in  the  last  half  of  the  19th 
century  nearly  doubling  its  ratio  to  the  rural.  In  France  whose 
population  has  increased  but  little  (2-3  million  since  1840)  the 
cities  have  rapidly  grown,  while  the  rural  population  has  de- 
creased by  over  2  ^  million. 

The  United  States  has  had  an  exceptionally  rapid  increase 
in  urban  population,  as  the  following  table  indicates: 

Growth  of  Cities  in  the  United  States 

Percentage  of  Population  in  Cities  of 
Bate  8,000  Inhabitants  or  Over 

1790 3-35 

1800 3-97 

1810 4-93 

1820 4-93 

1830 6.72 

1840 8.52 

1850 12.49 

i860 16.13 

1870 20.93 

1880 22.57 

1890 29.20 

1900 32  90 

1910 38  80 


332 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


Considering  the  percentage  of  people  living  in  towns  of  2,500 
or  more  inhabitants,  the  urban  population  in  the  United  States  in 
1910  was  46.3  per  cent  and  it  is  not  improbably  over  50  per  cent 
at  the  present  time.  In  several  states  over  one-half  the  popula- 
tion lived  in  cities  of  8,000  or  more  in  1910.  It  is  evident  that  this 
country,  despite  its  large  size  and  the  great  extent  of  its  agricul- 
tural industries,  is  fast  following  in  the  wake  of  the  older  nations 
of  Europe  in  the  urbanization  of  its  population.  In  some  parts, 
especially  in  New  England,  where  the  land  has  become  partly 
exhausted  or  is  relatively  arid,  the  rural  population  in  recent 
years  has  shown  an  actual  falling  off. 

The  growth  of  cities  is  due  to  the  following  causes:  (i)  natural 
increase  of  their  population,  (2)  migration,  and  (3)  the  incor- 
poration of  outlying  suburbs.  These  three  factors  vary  enor- 
mously in  different  times  and  places.  Gillette  has  attempted  to 
estimate  the  relative  share  which  each  of  these  factors  has  played 
in  the  recent  growth  of  cities  in  the  United  States.  He  separates 
the  migrants  into  those  from  rural  districts  and  those  from  foreign 
countries  and  presents  the  following  table  indicating  the  propor- 
tion derived  from  these  different  sources: 

Sources  of  Urban  Growth  in  the  United  States 


Factor 

Number 

Per  Cent 

Incorporation 

Immigration 

924,000 
4,849,000 
2,426,000 
3,637,000 

7.8 

41. 
20.5 

30.7 

Natural  Increase 

Rural  Migration 

Total 

11,826,000 

100  0 

These  figures  cannot  be  more  than  a  rough  approximation  to 
the  truth  owing  to  the  lack  of  precise  and  extensive  data  on  the 
movements  of  the  population.  It  may  be  noted  that  natural 
increase  is  responsible  for  only  a  relatively  small  part  of  the  urban 
growth  in  this  country,  and  it  is  equally  noteworthy  that  a 


INFLUENCE  OF  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT     S3S 

relatively  large  proportion  of  our  city  population  is  composed  of 
people  of  foreign  birth.  The  great  tide  of  immigration  that  comes 
to  our  shores  tends  to  lodge  chiefly  in  our  cities  and  large  num- 
bers never  get  beyond  the  original  port  of  entry.  New  York 
which  receives  by  far  the  largest  number  of  arriving  aHens  had  in 
1910  a  foreign  born  population  of  1,927,703  or  40.4  per  cent  of  her 
total  inhabitants.  The  proportion  of  foreign  born  and  their 
immediate  descendants  in  our  cities  has  increased  rapidly  in 
successive  decades.  In  the  Abstract  of  the  Thirteenth  Census  of 
the  United  States  it  is  stated  that  "Of  the  aggregate  urban  popu- 
lation— this  is,  the  population  of  incorporated  places  of  2.500 
inhabitants  or  more,  including  New  England  towns  of  that  size — 
of  the  United  States  in  1910,  41.9  per  cent  were  native  whites  of 
native  parentage,  29  per  cent  native  whites  of  foreign  or  mixed 
parentage,  22.6  per  cent  foreign-born  whites  and  6.3  per  cent 
negroes.  In  the  rural  population,  on  the  other  hand,  64.1  per 
cent  were  native  whites  of  native  parentage,  only  13.3  per  cent 
were  native  whites  of  foreign  or  mixed  parentage,  and  7.5  per 
cent  were  of  foreign  born  whites,  while  negroes  constituted  14.5 
per  cent.  Thus  the  foreign  born  whites  and  their  children  con- 
stituted fully  one-half  (51.6  per  cent)  of  the  urban  population  and 
only  about  one-fifth  of  the  rural"  (p.  91,  191 6). 

It  is  in  New  England  and  the  Middle  Atlantic  States  and 
some  states  of  the  north  such  as  Illinois,  Minnesota,  Ohio,  Mich- 
igan and  Wisconsin  that  the  foreign  born  constitute  an  especially 
large  part  of  our  city  population;  the  south  in  general  has  been 
less  affected  by  foreign  immigration.  The  native  born  population 
of  native  white  parents  is  in  many  cities  decidedly  in  the  minority. 
Thus  this  element  in  New  York  constituted  in  1910  only  19.3  per 
cent,  in  Chicago,  20.4  per  cent,  in  Boston  23.5  per  cent,  in  Phila- 
delphia, 37.7  per  cent,  in  Milwaukee,  21.1  per  cent,  and  in  San 
Francisco,  27.7  per  cent.  Our  larger  cities  especially  of  the 
east  and  north  are  becoming  populated  by  foreigners  and  their 
immediate  descendants.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  this  condi- 
tion obtained  to  a  considerable  extent  for  several  decades  and 
that  a  considerable  proportion  of  those  counted  as  native  Ameri- 


334 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


cans  of  native  stock  are  in  fact  the  descendants  of  foreign  im- 
migrants two  or  three  generations  back,  it  is  evident  that  the 
proportion  of  old  American  stock  in  most  of  large  cities  is  very 
small. 

It  is  a  matter  of  interest  to  ascertain  something  of  the  racial 
origin  of  those  who  are  replacing  the  native  American  in  our 
cities.  Natives  of  different  countries  vary  greatly  in  their  tend- 
ency to  choose  an  urban  in  preference  to  a  rural  habitat.  The 
way  in  which  the  people  of  different  nations  distribute  themselves 
may  be  seen  in  the  following  table  taken  from  the  Census  report 
for  1910: 


Proportions  of  City  Dwellers  A  mong  Natives  of  Different  Countries 


Total  population. .  .  . 
Total  foreign  born. . 

European 

Great  Britain 

Ireland 

Germany 

Scandinavia 

France 

Russia  and  Finland. . 

Italy 

Austria  and  Hungary 

Balkans 

Asia 


Nwnbei 


Per  Cent 


Urban 


42,623,383 

9,USfi91 

8,571.364 

880,613 

1,144,997 
1,669,315 

661,182 

82,078 

1,458.775 
1,049,390 

1,233,804 

169,469 

130.714 


Rural 


49,348,883 

3.770.189 

3.220,477 

340,670 

207,254 

832,018 

589,551 

35,340 

273,687 

293.735 
436,778 

51.477 
60,770 


Urban 


46. 

72. 
72, 
72. 

84. 
66. 

52 

69. 

84. 

78. 

73 

76. 

68. 


Rural 


•3 

53- 

I 

27. 

7 

27. 

I 

27. 

7 

15- 

7 

2>i- 

9 

47- 

9 

30. 

2 

15- 

.1 

21. 

•9 

26 

•7 

23 

•3 

3 

7 
9 
3 
9 
3 

3 

I 

I 
8 

9 

I 

3 
17 


It  is  evident  from  the  above  table  that  the  natives  of  Russia 
and  southern  Europe  flock  into  our  cities  in  greatest  relative 
numbers,  while  the  northern  European  stocks  with  the  notable 
exception  of  the  Irish  and  to  a  less  extent  the  natives  of  Great 
Britain  tend  to  settle  more  frequently  in  the  country.    According 


INFLUENCE  OF  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT     335 

to  the  Census  Report  for  19 10,  "The  only  countries  whose  natives 
show  a  lower  proportion  residing  in  urban  communities  in  1910 
than  is  shown  for  the  white  population  of  the  U.  S.  (44.2  per  cent) 
are  Norway,  Montenegro,  and  Mexico,  and  of  these  Mexico  is  the 
only  one  for  which  the  percentage  (34.2)  was  lower  than  that  for 
the  native  whites  of  native  parents  (36.1  per  cent)." 

The  general  city-ward  migration  of  the  population  has  had  a 
marked  influence  on  the  negro  population  of  the  nation,  a  fact  of 
no  small  consequence  for  the  biological  fortunes  of  that  race. 
In  the  decades  ending  in  1890,  1900  and  1910  the  percentage  of 
negroes  living  in  cities  of  2,500  or  over  was  19.8,  22.7  and  27.4, 
respectively.  In  the  Southern  States  the  negro  population,  like 
the  white,  is  largely  rural  (over  75  per  cent),  but  it  is  becoming 
gradually  urbanized  like  the  white  race  and  at  about  the  same 
rate.  In  the  north,  however,  the  negro  becomes  decidedly  urban. 
In  the  New  England  States  in  1910,  91.8  per  cent  of  the  negroes 
lived  in  cities;  in  the  Middle  Atlantic  States  the  urban  percentage 
was  81.2  per  cent,  in  the  Atlantic  East  North  Central  States  76.7 
per  cent,  in  the  West  North  Central  97.7  per  cent.  New  York 
with  its  91,709  negroes  and  Washington  with  its  94,446  are  the 
two  largest  negro  cities  in  the  U.  S.  Next  in  order  come  Nev/ 
Orleans  (89,262),  Philadelphia  (84,459),  Baltimore  (84,749), 
Memphis  (52,441),  Atlanta  (51,902),  Richmond  (46,733)>  Chicago 
(44,103),  St.  Louis  (43,690),  Nashville  (36,523). 

In  the  cities  of  the  north,  as  a  rule,  the  negro  population  has 
increased  at  a  greater  rate  relatively  to  the  number  of  negroes 
30  years  ago,  than  in  the  south,  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  before 
and  during  the  war  the  negro  population  was  largely  confined  to 
the  south.  It  is  noteworthy,  however,  that  in  some  of  the  colder 
cities  such  as  St.  Paul,  Mmneapolis  and  Milwaukee  the  negro 
population  remains  very  small,  less  than  2  per  cent. 

How  do  cities  affect  those  who  dwell  in  them?  The  general 
effect  of  city  life  in  the  past,  and  to  a  considerable  extent  up  to 
the  present,  has  proven  to  be  deleterious  to  a  large  part  of  their 
inhabitants.  As  destroyers  of  humanity  they  have  ranked  among 
the  most  potent.    "Anthropologically,"  says  Nordau,  "  the  large 


336  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

town  is  ruinous.  The  large  town  is  a  far  shining  light  house 
whose  lamp  consumes  a  mighty  deal  of  fuel."  In  cities  humanity- 
is  exposed  to  unnatural  conditions  of  life.  Frequently  inhabitants 
are  crowded  together,  with  an  inadequate  supply  of  fresh  air, 
exposed  to  increased  risks  of  contagion  and  inducted  into  habits 
of  vice  that  deteriorate  their  posterity  as  well  as  themselves.  The 
effect  of  these  untoward  agencies  is  reflected  in  the  rate  of  mor- 
tality which  is  generally  higher  in  urban  than  in  rural  commu- 
nities. We  cannot,  however,  in  all  cases  accept  the  mortality  rate 
of  cities  as  a  reliable  index  of  their  healthfulness.  As  a  measure  of 
the  actual  influence  of  the  city  upon  the  duration  of  life  it  may  be 
too  high  or  too  low.  The  presence  of  hospitals  and  asylums, 
orphanages  and  homes  for  the  aged  occasion  a  rise  in  the  general 
death  rate.  On  the  other  hand,  barracks  and  institutions  of 
learning,  which  contain  many  people  at  an  age  when  the  death 
rate  is  low,  tend  to  produce  an  unduly  favorable  impression  of  the 
general  salubrity  of  the  city  in  which  they  occur.  The  same 
influence  is  exerted  by  the  various  industries  which  create  a 
demand  for  the  employment  of  men  and  women  in  the  prime  of 
life.  On  the  whole,  the  death  rate  in  cities  tends  to  be  abnormally 
low,  because  there  are,  as  a  rule,  relatively  more  people  of  adoles- 
cent or  middle  age  than  in  the  country.  The  presence  of  many 
children  of  an  early  age  naturally  raises  the  general  death  rate, 
and  where  the  birth  rate  has  declined,  as  it  has  done  to  so  great  an 
extent  in  many  cities,  the  general  death  rate  becomes  corre- 
spondingly reduced.  A  city  may  for  various  reasons  have  a  very 
low  death  rate  and  nevertheless  be  a  very  unwholesome  place 
in  which  to  live. 

Notwithstanding  the  causes  which  tend  to  reduce  the  rates 
of  urban  mortality  as  they  are  commonly  expressed,  the  death 
rates  of  cities  generally  have  been,  and  in  some  countries  still  are, 
greater  than  that  of  adjacent  rural  communities.  This  is  shown 
for  the  United  States  in  the  following  table  giving  the  death  rates 
of  urban  and  rural  communities  in  the  registration  area : 


INFLUENCE  OF  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT     337 

Death  Rates  of  Urban  atid  Rural  Communities  in  the  United  States 

Date  igoo     igo^     igo6     igoj     igo8     igog    igio     igii 

Rural 15.2     14.4     13.7     14.0     13.3     13.0     13.4     12.7 

Urban 18.9     17. i     17.4     17.5     15.9     15.4     15.9     15. i 

Date  igi2     igij    igi4    igi^    igi6    igoi-05    igo6-io 

Rural 12.5     12.7     12.3     12.3     12.9      14. 1       13.4 

Urban 14.7      15.0     14.5      14.2      15.0       17.4        16.3 

As  a  rule  the  larger  the  city  the  higher  has  been  the  death 
rate.  In  the  United  States,  according  to  the  nth  census,  the 
death  rates  of  cities  of  different  sizes  were  as  follows : 


Death  Rates  According  to  Size  of  Cities 


Size  of  City 

Death  Rate  per  1,000 

Population  per  A  ere 

10,000-15,000 

15,000-25,000 

2';.000— t^O.OOO 

17.86 

1945 
21.81 
22.43 
23.28 

2.43 
2.79 

4.67 

9.04 

15  15 

<^o  000—100.000 

Over  100.000 

Similar  relations  are  shown  in  the  towns  of  New  England. 

Death  rate  of  New  England  Toums 

.  Ratios  to  the  New  England 

L>i'^i^^<^t  rate  taken  as  wo 

Rural 94 

Cities  of  10-25,000 95 

"      "   25-50,000 105 

"      "  20-100,000 no 

"      "   100,000 116 

The  relatively  rapid  fall  of  urban  death  rates  as  compared  with 
the  rural  is  illustrated  by  the  following  table: 


53^ 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


Death  Rates  of  the  City  and  State  of  New  York 


Date 

Deaths  in  City 

Rate 

Rate  per  Rest  of  State 

1898-1900 

1901-1909 

1906-1910 

1911-1915 

TQ14. 

67,516 
71,684 
75,868 
74,668 
74,803 

76,193 
77,800 

20.15 

18.6 

16.8 

14.4 

14.0 

13-9 
13-9 

15 
15 
15 
15 
15 
15 
15 

25 

3 

8 

6 
4 

TQIC 

2 

I916 

7 

Part  of  this  decline  in  New  York  City,  says  the  Report  of  the 
New  York  Department  of  Health  for  1919,  "should  be  attributed 
to  the  migration  from  other  communities  and  immigration  from 
foreign  countries,  of  large  numbers  of  young  adults  who  increased 
the  population,  but  being  in  the  healthiest  age  of  life,  contributed 
a  smaller  number  of  deaths  than  their  proportion  to  the  total 
population.  When  corrections  are  made  for  age  composition, 
however,  the  advantage  turns  in  favor  of  the  country." 


Crude  and  Standardized  Death  Rates  in  New  York  State  and  City 

Crude  Death  Rate  for  igii  Standardized  Rate 

State  of  N.Y 15.6  158 

CityofN.  Y 15.3  173 

Rest  of  State 16  141 

And  in  191 5,  according  to  the  report  quoted,  "the  essentially 
greater  healthfulness  of  the  smaller  communities  and  the  rural 
districts  of  the  state  compared  with  the  metropolis— hitherto 
obscured  by  the  difference  in  the  age  make-up  of  their  population 
^stands  out  in  a  standardized  rate  of  mortality  for  191 5  for  the 
state  outside  of  New  York  City  of  13.4  still  two  points,  or  13  per 
cent  below  that  of  the  metropoHs." 

In  Europe  urban  growth  and  migration  have  been  studied  more 


INFLUENCE  OF  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT     339 

extensively  and  intensively  than  in  the  United  States,  and  a  vast 
literature  has  been  accumulated  on  these  subjects.  Up  to  the 
last  quarter  century  the  urban  death  rates  generally  exceeded  the 
rural,  but  more  recently,  however,  the  death  rate  in  cities  has 
decreased  more  rapidly  than  in  the  country,  so  that  in  several 
countries  the  urban  rate  has  become  the  lower  of  the  two. 

This  fact  may  be  illustrated  by  the  following  table  showing  the 
decline  of  the  death  rate  in  some  of  the  principal  cities  and 
countries  of  Europe: 

Decline  of  Urban  and  Rural  Death  Rates  in  Europe 


1881-85 


1886-90 


1 89 1-95 


I S 96-00 


IgoI-05 


1906-09 


1910 


•5 
7 
9 

.6 

•4 
•S 

•7 
I 

9 

.2 


London 20 

England  and  Wales 19 

Paris 24 

France 22 

Vienna 28 

Budapest 31 

Prague 32 

Hungary 33 

Berlin 26 

Munich 30 

Breslau 31 

Germany 25 


19.7 
18.9 
23.0 
22.0 

25  I 
30.8 
29.6 
32.1 
22.4 
28.3 
28.8 
24.4 


18.8 
18.7 
21 . 2 
22.3 
24.1 

25 -5 
27. 1 
31-8 
20.5 
25.8 
27.4 

233 


18. 5 
17.7 

19.  2 

20.  7 
21 . 1 

21 .6 
24.4 
27.9 

18. 1 

23 -9 
25.0 

21 .2 


16. 1 

16.0 
18.0 
19.6 
19. 1 
19.8 
22.6 
26.  2 
17.0 
21 .0 

23 -7 
19.9 


14 
14 

17 
19 
17 
19 
19 
25 
IS 
17 
21 

17 


•4 

n- 

7 

13- 

7 

16. 

2 

17- 

3 

16. 

4 

18. 

6 

IS- 

0 

4 

14- 

9 

IS- 

.  I 

19. 

•5 

16. 

In  the  German  Empire  the  death  rates  for  cities  of  over  15,000 
or  more  inhabitants  have  averaged  lower  than  for  the  rural  dis- 
tricts since  the  seventies,  although  in  Prussia  the  cities  did  not 
take  the  lead  until  the  nineties. 


Death  Rates  of  City  and  Country  in  Germany 


In  cities  over  15,000. 
In  empire 


1877-81 


2S-73 
275 


1882-86 


2S-83 
27-3 


1887-91 


23.46 
25.2 


1892-96 


21 .  71 
24.0 


1 8 97-0 1 


20.46 

22.4 


340 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


In  Italy  the  death  rates  of  the  four  largest  cities  fall  below  that 
of  the  Kingdom.  The  death  rates  of  Rotterdam,  Amsterdam  and 
The  Hague  average  lower  than  that  of  Holland,  and  those  of 
Petrograd  and  Moscow  lower  than  that  of  Russia  in  general. 

The  favorable  showing  made  by  European  cities  in  comparison 
with  the  country  is,  however,  deceptive.  While  the  reduction  of 
the  death  rate  in  cities,  is  mainly  due  to  improved  hygiene  and 
sanitation  and  while  cities  often  afford  advantages  in  the  form  of 
superior  education  and  better  medical  aid  that  tend  to  reduce  the 
death  rate  more  than  in  the  country,  their  relatively  lower  death 
rate  is  largely  the  result  of  their  different  age  composition.  Tak- 
ing the  large  cities  of  Germany  as  an  example,  the  age  composi- 
tion as  compared  with  the  rest  of  the  empire  was  in  1900,  accord- 
ing to  Ballod,  as  follows: 

Age  Composition  of  Cities  and  Country  in  Germany 


No.  per  1,000  Inhabitants 

Under  16  yrs. 

16-30 

30-50 

50-70 

over  70  yrs. 

In  large  cities 

In  rest  of  Empire 

380 

301 
234 

264 
226 

III 

131 

19 

29 

The  relatively  small  number  of  children  and  old  people  in 
cities,  and  the  large  proportion  of  people  in  the  most  healthful 
period  of  life  naturally  tend  to  lower  the  death  rate  relatively 
more  than  in  the  country.  That  the  favorable  showing  of  cities  is 
largely  due  to  their  age  composition  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
when  we  consider  the  average  mortality  of  the  corresponding 
ages  of  life  in  urban  and  rural  communities  the  urban  mortality 
generally  exceeds  the  rural.  This  will  be  clear  in  the  case  of 
Germany  by  comparing  the  following  table  with  the  previous 


ones. 


INFLUENCE  OF  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT     341 


Deaths  per  10,000  in  Germany  (Mombert) 


In  Large  Cities 


Died  in  ist  yr 

Died  in  I  to  15  yrs.. 
Died  in  15  to  60  yrs. 
Died  in  60+yrs.  . . . 


i8q6 


2,727 

1,153 

931 

6,596 


i8g8 


2,220 

1,048 

882 

6,663 


igoo-oi 


2,322 

1,073 
899 

6,861 


Outside  Large  Cities 


Died  in  ist  yr 

Died  in  I  to  15  yrs.., 
Died  in  15  to  60  yrs. 
Died  in  60  +yrs .... 


2,134 
930 
879 

7,207 


The  statistics  of  Balled  show  that  for  males  of  all  ages  and  for 
females  with  a  few  exceptions  in  advanced  age  groups,  the  average 
duration  of  life  in  Prussia  was  greater  in  the  country  than  in 
the  cities. 

Average  Duration  of  Life  in  Prussia 


Age 


o. 

5- 
10. 
20. 

25- 

30' 
40, 

50' 
60, 
70 


Males 


City 


Country 


38 

51 

47 

39 

35 

31 
24. 

17 
12 

7 


71 
14 
61 
12 
24 
34 
14 
86 

32 
89 


42 

54 

51 
42 

39 

35 
27 

19 

13 

8 


75 
74 
24 

97 
71 
14 
24 
94 
,40 
.08 


Females 


City 


Country 


43 
55 
52 
43 
39 

35 
28 

20 

14 

8 


65 

45 
09 

69 

71 

86 

37 
94 
09 

52 


45 
55 
52 
43 
39 
36 
28 
20 

13 

8 


20 

53 
09 

85 
88 

04 

52 

83 

71 

19 


342  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

The  life  tables  for  1 880-81,  1885-6  and  1895-6  showed  for 
most  age  periods,  except  those  of  old  age,  that  the  death  rate  in 
general  decreased  with  the  size  of  the  city  and  was  markedly  less 
in  the  rural  districts.  (Ballod.)  In  Berlin  in  the  years  1890,  1895 
and  1890,  although  the  crude  death  rate  was  lower  than  it  was  in 
Prussia,  there  was  a  shorter  average  duration  of  life. 

In  certain  regions  the  rural  districts  may  be  actually  more 
unwholesome  than  the  city.  During  the  last  few  decades  many 
cities  have  made  remarkable  records  in  the  improvement  of  their 
sanitary  conditions.  And  infant  mortaHty  which  until  recently 
continued  in  most  cities  to  be  inexcusably  high  has  been  rapidly 
reduced  in  the  last  decade.  It  is  not  surprising  that  many  rural 
districts  which  have  been  relatively  backward  in  adopting  meas- 
ures for  impro\'ing  the  health  of  their  inhabitants  should  have  a 
death  rate  higher  than  that  of  near-by  cities.  The  health  record 
of  cities  has  improved  more  rapidly  than  that  of  the  country 
because  there  was  more  room  for  improvement;  and  we  may  look 
forward  to  much  greater  advances  in  the  near  future.  But  despite 
the  great  progress  which  has  actually  been  made,  and  the  exist- 
ence of  statistics  which  so  often  place  the  health  of  the  urban 
population  in  too  favorable  a  light,  there  is  little  doubt  that  cities 
have  been  and  still  are  deleterious  to  the  physical  welfare  of 
their  inhabitants. 

Besides  their  enhanced  death  rate,  the  unwholesomeness  of 
cities  is  indicated  by  a  number  of  other  symptoms.  As  has  been 
pointed  out  in  a  previous  chapter,  their  birth  rate  is  generally 
below  that  of  the  surrounding  country,  and  where  the  crude  urban 
birth  rate  exceeds  the  rural,  it  is  usually  owing  to  the  presence 
of  a  relatively  large  proportion  of  women  of  child-bearing  age  in 
the  city  population.  The  average  number  of  children  per  married 
woman  of  15-45  years  of  age  is,  in  most  places,  lower  in  the  cities 
than  in  the  country.  Suicides  are  notoriously  more  prevalent  in 
cities,  their  frequency  diminishing  with  the  size  of  the  city.  Cities 
usually  show  also  a  relatively  high  percentage  of  crime.  Prosti- 
tution is  prevailingly  an  urban  vice,  and  associated  with  this  is,  as 
has  been  discussed  in  Chapter  VII,  a  relatively  high  percentage 


INFLUENCE  OF  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT     343 

of  venereal  disease,  a  percentage  which  becomes  relatively  greater 
with  the  increased  size  of  the  city  and  which  cannot  fail  to  have  a 
marked  effect  on  individual  and  racial  vitality. 

Cities  generally  exceed  the  neighboring  country  in  the  per.r 
centage  of  illegitimacy,  the  proportion  of  stillbirths,  the  relative 
number  of  married  women  who  are  sterile,  the  proportion  of 
mothers  unable  to  nurse  their  children,  and  in  the  prevalence  of 
alcoholism  and  addiction  to  drugs.  All  these  facts  are  indicative 
of  the  deteriorating  effects  to  which  city  populations  are  subject 
and  which  cannot  fail  to  affect  either  the  average  longevity  of  the 
stock  or  its  power  of  perpetuation. 

Further  indications  of  the  effects  of  the  city  are  afforded  by 
the  extensive  statistics  on  the  fitness  of  recruits  for  military 
service.  Where  compulsory  military  service  is  in  vogue  and 
where  all  classes  are  subjected  to  examination,  the  data  yielded  is 
of  much  value.  The  percentage  of  recruits  meeting  the  require- 
ments for  military  service  in  Germany  for  1907  and  1908  is  given 
in  the  following  table  which  shows  the  proportions  accepted  from 
cities  of  different  sizes  and  from  the  country: 

Percentage  of  Recruits  Qualifying  for  Military  Service  in  Germany 


Size  of  City 

1907 

igoS 

Cities  over  i  000  000 

314 
39-9 
501 

47-9 
51.8 
58.0 

28.2 

"    coo  000— I  000.000 

44.0 

"    200.000— '^oo,ooo 

49.8 

"    TOO  000—200.000 

48.2 

"     CO  000—100  000 

Si-S 
57-7 

Countrv  .   .            

According  to  Bindewald  the  superiority  of  rural  recruits  is 
not  dependent  upon  occupation  since  it  obtains  within  the  limits 
of  each  trade  or  profession.  He  cites  the  following  statistics  of 
the  percentage  of  those  meeting  the  military  requirements: 


344 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 


Fitness  of  City  mid  Country  Recruits 


City  Recruits 

Country  Recruits 

Acceptable 

Unacceptable 

Acceptable 

Unacceptable 

Teachers 

Shoemakers  and  allied  trades 

Smith  and  metal  workers 

Laborers 

49-4 
46.6 
66.4 
60.9 

50.6 

59-4 
33  6 

391 

59-7 
50.2 
71. 1 
66.2 

40.3 
49.8 
28.9 
33-8 

The  most  recent  investigations  of  Burgdorfer  have  yielded 
results  equally  unfavorable  to  the  city  recruits.^ 

Many  of  the  causes  of  reduced  urban  vitality  are  obvious,  such 
as  relatively  poor  air,  especially  in  the  congested  areas.  The 
water  supply,  formerly  so  frequent  a  cause  of  epidemics,  has  been 
improved  in  so  many  large  cities  that  it  is  very  commonly  supe- 
rior to  that  of  the  country.  The  milk  supply,  notwithstanding 
much  improvement  in  recent  years,  is  still  sufficiently  bad  to  be 
a  potent  factor  in  urban  infant  mortality.  The  greater  readi- 
ness with  which  epidemics  are  carried  in  crowded  areas  is  doubt- 
less one  of  the  chief  causes  of  high  urban  mortality.  Without 
dwelling  upon  statistics  of  the  urban  and  rural  death  rates  from 
different  diseases,  it  may  be  stated  that,  on  the  average,  the 
death  rate  from  tuberculosis,  measles,  diphtheria,  whooping 
cough,  scarlet  fever,  enteritis,  and  especially  pneumonia  is  much 
more  heavy  in  cities  than  in  the  country. 

Cities  have  proven  to  be  consumers  of  men;  they  are  vortices 
into  which  are  drawn  ever  larger  proportions  of  our  race.  It 
becomes  therefore  a  matter  of  the  greatest  importance  to  ascer- 
tain upon  what  hereditary  classes  cities  exercise  their  most 
destructive  effect.  The  question  involves  a  consideration  of  two 
problems,  (i)  the  effect  of  urban  life  on  the  death  rate  and  birth 
rate  of  different  hereditary  stocks,  and  (2)  the  hereditary  char- 
acteristics of  migrants  to  the  cities  as  compared  with  those  of  the 
population  in  general.  Granting  that  cities  are  potent  consumers 
of  humanity,  do  they  destroy  the  superior  hereditary  types  more 
'  Ann.  deutschen  Reichs,  1909,  888-909;  1910,  873-878. 


INFLUENCE  OF  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT     345 

rapidly  than  the  inferior  ones,  and  do  they  attract  the  better  or 
the  poorer  stocks  from  the  surrounding  country? 

Probably  the  treatment  of  these  questions  which  has  suc- 
ceeded in  arousing  the  most  discussion  in  Hansen's  work  Die 
drei  Bevolkerungsstufen.  Hansen  divides  the  population  into 
three  classes:  (i)  the  landowners  from  nobles  owning  estates  to 
the  peasants  with  small  holdings,  (2)  the  middle  class  consisting 
of  officials,  professionals,  artisans,  merchants,  and  (3)  the  prole- 
tariat and  day  laborers  and  people  in  general  with  scanty  means 
of  subsistence.  Needless  to  say  these  are  not  well-defined  groups 
and  that  there  is  a  continual  transfer  from  one  group  to  another. 
The  first  class,  the  country  dwellers,  according  to  Hansen,  con- 
stitute a  large  proportion  of  the  rural  contribution  to  the  city 
population.  It  is  this  class  that  has  the  highest  birth  rate.  Their 
surplus  as  a  result  of  economic  pressure  flows  to  the  cities  where 
it  supplies  the  second  class  with  most  of  its  members.  Here  they 
are  subjected  to  conditions  of  life  which  enhance  the  death  rate 
and  reduce  the  birth  rate  so  that,  notwithstanding  the  superior 
economic  status  which  they  acquire,  they  rapidly  diminish  in 
number.  Urban  immigrants,  according  to  Hansen,  are  of  better 
average  quality  than  those  who  remain  to  carry  on  agricultural 
pursuits.  It  is  this  rural  influx  that  keeps  up  the  vitality  of  urban 
populations,  and  is  mainly  responsible  for  urban  growth.  IMany 
cities,  were  they  dependent  upon  natural  increase  alone,  would 
suffer  an  actual  loss  of  population.  Dr.  Boeckh  has  estimated 
that  the  fertility  of  the  city  born  in  Berlin  is  not  high  enough  to 
perpetuate  the  stock.  Paris  for  a  long  time  has  not  been  self- 
sustaining.  Lagneau  calculated  that  were  it  not  for  immigration 
its  population  would  decrease  50  per  cent  in  each  generation. 
Where  cities  grow  through  their  own  birth  rate  their  increase  is 
dependent  upon  the  fertility  of  the  proletariat,  since  the  middle 
class  is  generally  not  self-perpetuating.  Between  the  recruits 
coming  from  other  classes  and  its  own  fecundity  the  third  stratum 
perpetuates  itself  even  under  the  unfavorable  conditions  into 
which  it  is  forced  through  economic  pressure.  But  through 
overcrowding,  poor  food  and  other  destructive  agencies,  it  tends, 


346  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

according  to  Hansen,  to  degenerate.  The  children,  poorly 
nourished  and  brought  up  with  inadequate  education,  recruit  the 
army  of  vagabonds  and  ne'er-do-wells  that  forms  so  hea\'y  a 
burden  upon  the  productive  members  of  society.  Thus  cities, 
according  to  Hansen,  are  racially  destructive.  They  cause  a 
gradual  deterioration  of  their  inhabitants  and  constitute  a  potent 
factor  in  the  decline  and  fall  of  empires. 

Views  similar  to  those  of  Hansen  have  been  set  forth  by  Am- 
mon.  Tliis  writer  differs  from  Hansen  in  that  he  does  not  consider 
that  the  rural  migrants  become  at  once  members  of  the  middle 
class.  The  majority  begin  at  the  lower  rounds  of  the  ladder, 
becoming  servants,  janitors,  waiters,  teamsters,  etc.,  and  sub- 
sequently work  up  into  the  skilled  trades  and  higher  professions. 
During  this  period  they  are  subjected  to  the  rigid  operation  of 
natural  selection.  The  less  intelligent  and  forceful  brachycepha- 
lic  types  are  eliminated  in  a  few  generations.  The  dolichocepha- 
lics  tend  to  succeed  both  in  the  struggle  for  wealth  and  position 
as  well  as  in  the  more  literal  struggle  for  life.  As  a  result,  cities 
tend  to  become  composed  of  a  relatively  high  percentage  of  the 
dolichocephalic  type.  The  anthropometric  studies  of  Ammon 
upon  the  population  of  Baden  have  yielded  results  supporting 
this  conclusion,  inasmuch  as  he  finds  that  the  urban  population 
is  more  dolichocephalic  than  the  rural,  and  that  the  successful 
types  are  more  dolichocephalic  than  those  of  inferior  status. 
But  in  the  long  run,  city  life  proves  fatal  even  to  the  victors  in 
the  struggle.  Ammon  who  shares  the  very  prevalent  German 
persuasion  regarding  the  long  headed,  blond  "Germanic"  type, 
naturally  looks  upon  the  process  of  urban  migration  as  destruc- 
tive of  the  best  elements  of  the  race.  The  rural  population  it  is 
which  is  the  source  of  national  vitality.  "Der  Bauernstand  ist 
nicht  ein  Stand  wie  jeder  beliedige  andere,  der  sich  durch  Zugang 
neuer  Krafte  erganzt,  sondern  er  ist  eben  der  Vorratsbehalter, 
der  Jungbrunnen  der  Menschheit,  er  hat  die  Nachschiibe  fiir  alle 
anderen  Stande  zu  liefern,  in  denen  die  Menschen  nach  dem 
natiirlichen  Laufe  der  Entwickelung  sich  verbrauchen  und 
zerstoren." 


INFLUENCE  OF  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT     347 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  opinions  expressed  by  Hansen  and 
Ammon  have  been  widely  influential  in  Germany  and  have 
stimulated  interest  in  the  agrarian  policies  carried  out  in  that 
country.  Militaristic  writers, — and  we  must  count  Hansen  and 
Ammon  among  them, — have  viewed  with  much  concern  the 
relatively  poor  showing  which  cities  have  made  according  to 
recruiting  statistics  and  the  records  of  urban  birth  rates.  In 
numerous  German  discussions  of  the  subject  that  appeared  before 
the  Great  War  we  find  frequent  allusion  to  the  "Wehrkraft"  or 
"  Wehrfahigkeit,"  which  it  was  feared  might  not  retain  its  relative 
superiority  in  face  of  the  portentous  fecundity  of  the  Sla\ic 
neighbors  of  the  empire.  The  situation  which  has  called  forth  so 
many  lamentations  from  Germany  obtains  to  almost  as  great 
an  extent  in  most  other  civilized  countries,  although  its  military 
aspect  has  caused  much  less  uneasiness.  The  questions  raised  by 
Hansen  and  his  followers  are  of  the  most  serious  consequence  to 
mankind  in  general,  and  it  should  constitute  a  part  of  the  program 
of  institutions  dealing  extensively  with  vital  statistics  to  collect 
the  data  required  for  their  solution. 

The  views  of  Hansen,  Ammon  and  their  followers  have  elicited 
a  great  deal  of  adverse  criticism  on  a  number  of  points.  The  fact 
urged  by  Kuczynsky  that  cities  often  have  a  fairly  high  birth 
rate  and  a  death  rate  lower  than  that  of  the  country  is  by  no 
means  a  proof  that  cities  are  self-perpetuating.  Weber  cites  as 
a  fatal  objection  to  Hansen's  theory  the  circumstance  that  in 
Germany  "in  several  years  the  ratio  of  births  to  deaths  has  been 
larger  in  the  great  cities  than  in  the  Empire  as  a  whole,  and  in 
recent  years  the  two  ratios  have  been  about  the  same."  It  is, 
however,  only  an  apparent  paradox  to  say  that  a  surplus  of  births 
over  deaths  does  not  indicate  that  city  populations  are  sclf-pcr- 
petuating.  The  immigration  of  people  from  20-40  years  of  age 
reduces  the  death  rate  and  tends  to  increase  the  birth  rate.  How 
much  of  the  urban  increase  is  due  to  the  fecundity  of  immigrants 
from  the  country  is  not  known.  A  very  considerable  part  of  the 
population  of  cities,  and  a  larger  proportion  of  the  population  of 
large  cities,  according  to  the  principle  announced  by  the  statist!- 


348  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

cian  Von  Mayr,  is  of  outside  origin.  But  until  more  is  known  of 
the  relative  fertility  of  those  born  in  the  city  and  those  who  come 
in  from  the  country  it  cannot  be  ascertained  to  what  extent  the 
populations  of  cities  are  really  self-sustaining.  As  stated  pre- 
viously the  population  of  Paris  and  that  of  Berlin  is  not  reproduc- 
ing itself.  The  remarkably  low  birth  rate  of  several  cities  of 
Switzerland  renders  it  probable  that  the  same  conclusion  holds 
for  them  also.  Ballod  has  attempted  to  show,  on  the  basis  of 
studies  on  the  average  duration  of  life  in  Germany,  that  in  several 
large  cities  the  population  would  show  a  small  deficit  were  it  not 
for  the  influx  of  people  from  the  outside  who  help  to  swell  their 
birth  rate.  The  same  conclusion  is  drawn  for  ten  of  the  most 
urban  districts  of  France.  Estimates  of  the  real  natural  increase 
of  cities  present  many  difficulties  and  in  most  cases  data  are  not 
available  for  a  separate  estimate  of  the  births  of  the  native  and 
the  immigrant  elements  of  the  city  population.  Ballod's  calcula- 
tions were  based  on  statistics  compiled  in  the  last  two  decades  of 
the  19th  century,  since  when  there  has  been  a  considerable 
decline  in  urban  birth  rates.  Death  rates  have  also  declined  so 
that  comparisons  with  present  day  conditions  cannot  be  made 
without  an  extensive  reinvestigation.  We  are  reasonably  safe  in 
saying,  however,  that  several  cities  would  not  sustain  themselves 
at  the  present  time  if  it  were  not  for  immigration  from  the  outside. 

The  rapid  fall  of  the  urban  birth  rate  has  affected  most  the 
classes  upon  whose  intelligence,  initiative  and  energy  the  rank  of 
a  people  mainly  depends.  It  is  a  very  difficult  task  to  estimate 
the  eugenic  worth  of  city  immigrants  as  compared  with  that  of 
the  native  city  born;  data  on  the  subject  as  well  as  opinions  are 
conflicting.  With  more  accurate  and  extensive  demographical 
bookkeeping  this  important  question  could  doubtless  be  def- 
initely settled.  But  however  the  stream  of  urban  migration 
compares  with  the  rest  of  the  race,  the  process  of  diminishing  the 
capable  and  enterprising  elements  of  the  community  is  appar- 
ently intensified  in  cities,  and  especially  large  cities. 

One  important  consequence  of  the  development  of  modern 
industry  is  the  increasing  employment  of  woman  and  the  growing 


INFLUENCE  OF  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT     349 

emancipation  of  women  from  economic  dependence  upon  man. 
What  are  the  racial  effects  of  this  movement  is  a  question  which 
has  naturally  attracted  much  attention  and  elicited  much  dis- 
cussion. A  solution  of  the  question  involves  a  number  of  sub- 
sidiary enquiries  as  to  the  effect  of  the  changing  industrial  status 
of  women  upon  the  marriage  rate,  death  rate  and  fecundity  of  the 
different  hereditary  classes  of  their  sex. 

Among  women,  as  among  men,  those  engaged  in  skilled  labor 
or  in  professions  marry  later  than  those  in  ordinary  employment. 
In  Prussia,  according  to  Prinzing,  the  average  age  of  marriage  is 
low  among  factor}^  workers  (24.6-25.5)  and  cigar  makers  (23.5), 
a  little  higher  among  shop  girls  (25.8),  seamstresses  (26)  and 
waitresses  (24),  and  higher  still  among  teachers  (29).  The 
English  textile  worker  marries  before  the  shop  girl,  and  the  latter 
before  the  trained  employee.  The  higher  the  status  the  less 
frequent  also  are  the  marriages.  The  development  of  industry  by 
creating  opportunities  for  an  independent  career  for  women 
tends  to  induce  the  more  capable  to  enter  upon  those  pursuits  in 
which  we  find  a  low  marriage  rate.  The  proportion  of  married 
women  is  usually  greater  in  the  country,  where  only  a  relatively 
small  number  of  women  are  working  for  wages  than  it  is  in  cities. 
The  stream  of  cityward  migration  is  frequently  composed  of 
more  women  than  men. 

The  influence  of  the  industrial  mill  upon  the  physique  of  the 
throngs  of  young  women  that  seek  an  independent  livelihood  is 
only  too  frequently  far  from  wholesome.  The  fatigue,  poor 
housing  conditions  and  nervous  strain  to  which  they  are  subject 
deprive  many  of  the  natural  inclination  to  marry  or  render  them 
less  apt  to  be  chosen  as  wives.  But  the  baneful  influence  of 
industrial  development  is  not  so  much  its  effect  upon  the  physical 
welfare  of  womankind  in  general,  as  its  tendency  to  divert  the 
better  endowed  from  the  duties  of  motherhood. 

Besides  the  effect  of  employment  of  women  upon  marriage  we 
must  reckon  with  its  influence  upon  women  after  they  are  mar- 
ried. The  proportion  of  married  women  who  are  employed  in 
gainful  occupations  is  of  course  much  smaller  than  in  the  un- 


350         THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

married,  and  it  tends  as  a  rule  to  be  large  where  the  wages  of  the 
husband  are  low.  In  many  industrial  towns  and  cities  it  is 
common  for  both  husband  and  wife  to  be  employed  in  the  same 
industry.  When  the  wife  is  employed  outside  the  home,  infant 
mortality  is  generally  found  to  be  higher  than  when  she  looks 
after  her  own  household.  The  employment  of  married  women 
thus  has  its  effect  upon  the  death  rate  and  brings  into  play  a  form 
of  selection  whose  racial  effects  may  be  good  or  ill  as  a  number  of 
attendant  circumstances  determine. 

Besides  the  influence  of  industrial  development  upon  the  birth 
rate  and  death  rate  of  different  hereditary  classes,  there  is  the 
possibility  of  important  effects  upon  the  production  of  variations 
in  the  germ  plasm.  If  germinal  variations  arise  in  response  to 
changes  in  the  environment  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  pro- 
found influence  which  industrial  development  has  exerted  upon 
the  conditions  under  which  people  hve  and  work  may  have 
produced  some  modifications  in  the  inherited  qualities  of  the  race. 
Economic  conditions  not  only  have  their  effect  upon  the  preva- 
lence of  alcoholism,  but  they  lead  to  an  abnormal  congestion  of 
population  under  conditions  unfavorable  for  healthy  living  and 
thereby  increase  the  prevalence  of  many  diseases  which  may 
possibly  produce  permanent  changes  in  the  germ  plasm.  Statis- 
tics on  the  causes  of  death  in  cities  bring  out  clearly  how  different 
are  the  biological  conditions  to  which  the  urban  dweller  is  exposed 
as  compared  with  those  which  surround  his  rural  compatriot.  As 
we  have  pointed  out  in  a  previous  chapter,  we  are  ignorant  of 
how  environmental  changes  affect  the  germ  plasm  of  human 
beings.  We  can  only  say  that  since  our  industrial  development 
has  so  greatly  modified  the  environment  of  large  masses  of  man- 
kind it  is  not  improbable  that  more  or  less  change  has  thereby 
been  produced  in  the  germ  plasm  of  the  race. 

The  course  of  evolution  in  man  has  been  influenced  to  no  small 
degree  by  the  migration  of  peoples,  whether  this  has  occurred  as 
the  result  of  conquest,  or  by  the  more  orderly  method  of  peaceful 
invasion.  People  ever  tend  to  overflow  their  boundaries  as 
a  result  of  the  pressure  coming  from  their  increase  in  numbers. 


INFLUENCE  OF  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT     351 

While  migration  sometimes  occurs  for  the  sake  of  religious  liberty, 
or  in  order  to  escape  from  a  despotic  political  regime,  the  chief 
driving  force  is  usually  want  of  the  necessities  of  life.  It  would 
require  a  volume  to  discuss  adequately  the  role  which  migrations 
have  played  in  the  evolution  of  man,  and  no  attempt  will  be  made 
to  point  out  more  than  a  few  aspects  of  the  problem.  When  one 
people  invades  the  territory  of  another,  either  type  may  supplant 
the  other,  or  they  may  combine  to  form  a  hybrid  stock.  In 
modern  times  especially,  the  effects  of  migration  are  complicated 
with  the  problem  of  the  influence  of  racial  amalgamation.  This 
is  particularly  the  case  in  a  countr}^  like  the  United  States 
where  the  problems  of  immigration  are  more  pressing  than  in 
almost  any  other  place  on  the  globe.  It  is  to  this  countr}^  that 
our  few  remarks  on  immigration  will  be  mainly  confined. 

The  United  States  has  long  been  the  great  "melting  pot"  of 
the  nations.  Formerly  our  immigration  was  mainly  from  the 
north  of  Europe,  consisting  of  English,  Scotch,  Irish,  Germans, 
Scandinavians,  mostly  members  of  the  great  "Nordic  race." 
This  source  of  supply  has  now  failed  to  furnish  more  than  a  small 
proportion  of  our  immigrants.  For  some  decades  our  influx  from 
abroad  has  consisted  mainly  of  Russians  and  Southern  Euro- 
peans,— Greeks,  Italians,  Portuguese,  Southern  Slavs,  Turks, 
Bosnians,  Rumanians  and  Armenians.  On  the  West  coast  we 
have  received  a  considerable  number  of  Chinese,  Japanese, 
Hindus,  Filipinos  and  other  peoples  in  lesser  numbers.  Some  of 
the  latter  elements  will  assimilate  slowly,  if  at  all,  with  our  native 
population,  but  those  arriving  on  our  eastern  shores,  although 
they  tend  to  form  segregated  groups  in  our  cities  and  elsewhere, 
will  probably  become  amalgamated  in  the  course  of  a  few  genera- 
tions in  the  great  melting  pot. 

Naturally  the  biological  effect  of  this  influx  of  foreigners 
depends  largely  on  their  hereditary  qualities.  While  there  is 
no  doubt  that  many  of  our  immigrants  are  of  excellent  stock,  it 
has  been  seriously  doubted  if  the  great  mass  of  Greeks,  southern 
Italians,  Portuguese,  Syrians  and  Turks  measure  up  to  the 
general  intellectual  level  of  the  peoples  of  Nordic  stock  which 


352  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

constituted  the  great  bulk  of  our  population  of  a  couple  of  decades 
ago.  There  is  little  in  the  achievements  of  these  people  either 
here  or  in  their  native  land  to  remove  this  doubt.  It  is  of  course 
easy  to  make  excuses  for  the  shortcomings  of  people  of  inferior 
educational  status.  One  may  argue,  as  indeed  many  do,  that  we 
cannot  demonstrate  that  such  people  are  not  of  as  good  mental 
inheritance  as  the  best  of  the  Nordic  race.  On  the  other  hand 
no  one  has  ever  shown  that  they  are. 

There  is  the  further  question  of  how  our  immigrants  compare 
with  the  general  average  of  people  of  their  native  country.  Those 
who  wander  forth  to  seek  their  fortune  in  another  land  are  fre- 
quently spoken  of  as  unusually  hardy,  physically  vigorous,  and 
enterprising.  Under  certain  conditions  this  may  be  true.  But  it 
is  extremely  doubtful  if  our  present  immigrants  are  especially 
selected  for  their  virile  qualities.  They  represent  for  the  most 
part  the  poorer  classes  of  wage  earners  from  the  old  world.  In 
too  many  cases  they  are  the  failures  that  seek  an  escape  into  a 
new  field  of  opportunity.  Thousands  are  induced  to  come  here 
by  the  lurid  accounts  of  America's  golden  opportunities  which 
have  been  presented  to  them  by  the  agents  of  transportation 
companies  who  have  combed  Europe  for  possible  passengers. 
Mine  and  factory  owners  caring  nothing  for  the  racial  and  social 
effects  of  their  action,  but  solicitous  only  for  the  profits  to  be 
derived  from  a  plentiful  supply  of  cheap  labor,  have  encouraged 
immigration  to  the  utmost  and  have  exercised  their  strong 
political  influence  to  lower  the  standard  of  admission. 

We  forbid  the  entrance  of  the  feeble-minded,  epileptic,  insane, 
paupers,  criminals,  prostitutes  and  anarchists,  but  we  are  far 
from  detecting  all  of  these  undesirables,  and  we  receive  a  large 
mass  of  sodden  stupidity,  which  escapes  falling  into  the  lowest 
class  of  mental  defectives.  Undoubtedly  we  would  gain  much  by 
a  more  rigid  scrutiny  of  our  immigrant  population.  It  would  be 
especially  desirable  if  mental  tests  could  be  applied  to  all  arriving 
aliens  so  as  to  exclude  at  least  everybody  below  the  level  of  a 
high-grade  moron.  It  would  also  be  desirable  to  have  a  mental 
rating  of  foreign  peoples  to  the  end  of  discouraging  or  preventing 


INFLUENCE  OF  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT     353 

entirely  the  entrance  of  the  inhabitants  of  certain  countries.  The 
needs  of  employers  for  cheap  labor  are  of  very  minor  consequence 
when  compared  with  keeping  the  blood  of  the  nation  free  from 
contamination  by  inferior  breeds  of  humanity.  Considerations 
of  blood  and  not  dollars  should  dictate  the  immigration  policy 
of  our  country.  In  the  long  run  the  eugenic  policy  will  prove  the 
most  valuable  economically  as  well. 

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i90i,pp.  88. 

Ammon,  O.  Die  Gesellschaftsordnung  und  ihre  natiirlichen  Grunglagen.  Jena, 
1895;  Die  Bedeutung  des  Bauernstandes  fiir  den  Staat  und  die  Gesellschaft. 
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Ballod,  C.  Die  Lebensfahigkeit  der  stadtischen  und  landlichen  Bevolkerung. 
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Die  Sterblichkeit  der  Grosstadte.  Bull.  Inst.  Intemat.  Stat.  14,  Part  2, 
401-416,  1905. 

Bauer,  L.    Der  Zug  nach  der  Stadt  und  die  Stadterweiterung.    Stuttgart,  1904. 

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tion Rev.  2,  V,  369-417,  191 2. 

Bindewald,  G.  Die  Wehrfahigkeit  der  landlichen  und  stadtischen  Bevolkerung. 
Schmoller's  Jahrbuch  f.  Gesetzg.  Verwaltung  und  Volkswirthschaft,  1901,  25, 
2,  139-198;  Fine  Untersuchung  uber  den  Unterschied  der  Militartauglichkeit 
landlicher  und  stadtischer  Bevolkerung.    Conrad's  Jahrbiicher,  70,  649-661, 

1898. 
Bleicher,  H.     Statistische  Beschreibung  der  Stadt  Frankfurt  a.  M.  imd  ihrer 
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1900. 
Boeckh,  R.    Die  Berliner  Sterblichkeitstafehi  und  die  Methoden  ihrer  Berechnung. 

Stat.  Jahrb.  d.  Stadt,  Berlin,  1896. 
Brooks,  R.  C.    Bibliography  of  Municipal  Administration  and  City  Conditions. 

Municipal  Affairs,  i.  No.  i,  pp.  224, 1897  and  1.  c.  5,  1-346,  1901.    (The  latter 

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Comparative  Municipal  Statistics,  191 2-13,  London  County  Council,  1915. 
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1897- 
Falkenburg.     Statistique  d^mographique  des  Grandes  Villes  du  Monde,   1880- 

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Miiller,  Amsterdam,  1911,  1912,  two  parts. 


354       ■   THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

Galton,  F.  The  Relative  Supplies  from  Town  and  Country  Families  to  the  Popula- 
tion of  Future  Generations.    Jour.  Roy.  Stat.  Soc.  36,  19-26,  1873. 

Gillette,  J.  M.  The  Drift  to  the  City  in  Relation  to  the  Rural  Problem.  Am. 
Jour.  Soc.  16,  645-667,  191 1 ;  City  Trend  of  Population  and  Leadership. 
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Dynamics.  Pubs.  Am.  Stat.  Ass.  15,  345-380,  1916;  Constructive  Rural 
Sociology,  2d  ed.,  N.  Y.,  191 6. 

Grassl,  J.  Die  Wanderungen  der  bayrischen  Bevolkerung  und  ihre  Einfliisse  auf 
die  Rasse.    Arch.  Rass.  Ges.  Biol.  9,  430-453,  191 2. 

Guillon,  J.  L'Emigration  des  Compagnes  vers  les  Villes  et  ses  Consequences 
Economiques  et  Sociales.    Rousseau,  Paris,  1905. 

Hansen,  G.    Die  drei  Bevolkerungsstufen.    Munich,  1889. 

Hayhurst,  E.  R.  A  Survey  of  Industrial  Health-Hazards  and  Occupational  Dis- 
eases in  Ohio.    F.  J.  Heer  Co.,  Columbus,  Ohio,  XVIH+pp.  438,  1915. 

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Biol.  6,^493-511,  631-648,  1909. 

Korosi,  J.  Ueber  den  Einfluss  der  Wohlhabenheit  und  der  Wohnverhaltnisse  auf 
die  Sterblichkeit.    Stuttgart,  1885. 

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die  wichtigste  Grundiage  der  deutschen  Wehrkraft?  Heft  213,  214,  der 
Volkswirtschaft.    Zeitfragen,  BerUn,  1905. 

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Lapouge,  G.  V.  de,  Recherches  Anthropologiques  sur  le  Probleme  de  la  Depopula- 
tion. Rev.  £con.  Polit.  9,  1002-1029,  1895,  10,  132-146,  1896.  See  also  Rev. 
d'Anthrop.  1887,  and  Les  Selections  Sociales. 

Pollock,  H.  M.,  and  Morgan,  W.  S.    Modem  Cities,  N.  Y.  and  London,  1913. 

Ravenstein,  E.  G.  The  Laws  of  Migration.  Jour.  Roy.  Stat.  Soc.  48,  167-227, 
1885,  52,  241-301,  1889. 

Ripley,  W.  Z.  Racial  Geography  of  Europe,  14.  Urban  Problems,  Pop.  Sci.  Mon. 
52,  591-608,  1898;  The  Races  of  Europe.  Appleton  and  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1899,  2d 
ed.  1910. 

Thumwald,  R.  Stadt  und  Land  im  Lebensprozess  der  Rasse.  Arch.  Rass.  Ges. 
Biol.  I,  550-574,  840-884,  1904. 

Verrijn-Stuart,  C.  A.  NataUte,  Mortinatalite  et  MortaUte  Enfantine  selon  le 
Degre  d'Aisance  dans  quelques  Villes  et  un  Nombre  de  Communes  Rurales  dans 
les  Pays-Bas.     Bulk  Inst.  Intemat.  Stat.  13,  Part  2,  357-368,  1902-1903. 

Walford,  C.  On  the  Nvunber  of  Deaths  from  Accident,  Negligence,  Violence  and 
Misadventure  in  the  United  Kingdom  and  some  other  Countries.  Jour.  Roy. 
Stat.  Soc.  44,  444-521,  1881. 

Weber,  A.  F.  The  Growth  of  Cities  in  the  Nineteenth  Century.  Studies  in  Hist. 
Econ.  and  Public  Law,  Columbia  Univ.  11,  N.  Y.,  1899. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  SELECTIVE  FUNCTION  OF  RELIGION 

''If  we  are  right  in  believing  that  the  religious  instinct  is  the  only 
force  strong  enough  to  influence  mankind,  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously, to  consider  the  race  as  distinct  from  the  individual,  it  is  clear 
that  the  character  of  the  national  religion,  the  correctness  of  the 
biological  principles  its  teaching  embodies,  the  devotion,  fidelity  and 
number  of  its  adherents,  will  be  the  real  criterion  of  success  or  failure." 
— W.  C.  D.  and  C.  D.  Whetham,  Heredity  and  Society,  p.  54. 

The  part  which  religious  beliefs  and  practices  have  played  in 
the  evolution  of  mankind  is  undoubtedly  one  of  no  small  im- 
portance. Man  is  not  only  a  political  animal;  he  is  also  a  religious 
animal.  From  the  remotest  periods  of  histor>^  human  behavior 
has  been  subject  to  the  guiding  influence  of  belief  in  some  kind  of 
supernatural  agency.  These  beliefs  often  afford  a  powerful  aid  to 
the  maintenance  of  the  solidarity  of  the  group  which  is  so  im- 
portant an  aid  in  inter-tribal  or  inter-national  struggles.  In  fact 
many  Darwinians  attribute  the  development  of  the  religious 
impulses  of  man  to  their  value  in  subordinating  the  egoistic 
tendencies  of  human  beings  to  the  interests  of  their  social  group. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  advocates  of  this  \aew,  Mr.  Ben- 
jamin Kidd,  remarks:  "In  the  religious  beliefs  of  mankind  we 
have  not  simply  a  class  of  phenomena  peculiar  to  the  childhood  of 
the  race.  We  have  therein  the  characteristic  feature  of  our  social 
evolution.  These  beliefs  constitute,  in  short,  the  natural  and 
inevitable  complement  of  our  reason;  and  so  far  from  being 
threatened  with  eventual  dissolution  they  are  apparently  destined 
to  continue  to  grow  with  the  growth  and  to  develop  with  the 
development  of  society,  while  always  preserving  intact  and 
unchangeable  the  one  essential  feature  they  all  provide  for  con- 
duct. And  lastly,  as  we  understand  how  an  ultra-rational  sanc- 
tion for  the  sacrifice  of  the  interests  of  the  individual  to  those 

3SS 


356  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

of  the  social  organism  has  been  a  feature  common  to  all  religions 
we  see,  also,  why  the  conception  of  sacrifice  has  occupied  such  a 
central  place  in  nearly  all  beliefs,  and  why  the  tendency  of  reli- 
gion has  ever  been  to  surround  this  principle  with  the  most 
impressive  and  stupendous  of  sanctions."  Religion  viewed  from 
this  standpoint  has  a  distinct  biological  value  and  hence  natural 
selection  would  tend  to  favor  the  development  of  those  impulses 
and  emotions  which  make  man  a  religious  animal. 

There  is  perhaps  no  better  illustration  of  the  aid  which  religion 
affords  in  the  process  of  group  selection  than  its  effect  upon  the 
birth  rate.  And  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  militarists  of  the 
Bernhardi  type  who  bewail  the  loss  of  man  power  which  results 
from  the  falling  birth  rate  are  very  solicitious  for  the  maintenance 
of  religious  beliefs  on  account  of  their  influence  in  checking  the 
artificial  restriction  of  births.  A  religion  that  emphasizes  the 
injunction  to  be  fruitful  and  multiply  may  do  much  to  counteract 
the  limitation  of  the  family  which  so  often  results  from  egoistic 
motives. 

Undoubtedly  the  relatively  high  fecundity  of  the  Catholics  is 
due  in  part  to  the  strong  stand  taken  by  the  church  against  any 
artificial  interference  with  the  propagation  of  life  and  to  the 
encouragement  which  she  gives  to  her  adherents  to  bring  into  the 
world  a  plentiful  supply  of  human  beings  to  recruit  her  ranks. 

In  general  the  birth  rate  of  Catholic  countries  is  higher  than 
it  is  in  countries  which  are  mainly  Protestant,  although  this  is 
probably  not  due  to  religion  alone.  In  France,  although  it  is 
largely  Catholic,  the  birth  rate  is  low,  but  it  is  relatively  higher 
in  districts  such  as  Finisterre  (27.1)  and  Pas  de  Calais  (26.6)  in 
which  the  proportion  of  Catholics  is  large.  The  same  situation 
obtains  in  Germany  where,  according  to  Borntraeger,  the  Catho- 
lic districts  are  more  prolific  than  the  Protestant,  and  the  places 
where  the  free-thinking  elements  proponderate  have  the  lowest 
birth  rate  of  all.  In  Prussia  the  fecundity  of  marriages  according 
to  the  religion  of  husband  and  wife  is  shown  in  the  following  table: 


THE  SELECTIVE  FUNCTION  OF  RELIGION        357 


Children  per  Marriage  in  Prussia,  iSy^-go,  According  to  Religion  of 

Contracting  Parties 


Creed  of  Fathers 


Evangelical 
Catholic.  .  . 
Jewish 


Creed  of  Mothers 


Evangelical 


4-35 
3-34 

158 


Catholic 


330 

5-24 
1.38 


Jewish 


1.78 
1.66 
4.21 


It  may  be  seen  from  this  table  that  the  greatest  number  of 
children  (5.24)  are  born  from  marriages  in  which  both  parties  are 
Catholic.  Marriages  between  people  of  different  faiths  is  asso- 
ciated with  a  marked  reduction  of  the  size  of  the  family. 

The  recent  studies  of  von  Schrenck  have  shown  that  the  birth 
rate  of  the  Protestants  in  Riga  has  fallen  to  15-16  per  1,000.  With 
a  death  rate  of  19.5  per  1,000  the  natural  increase  of  the  popula- 
tion has  practically  stopped,  and  were  it  not  for  the  Catholics 
and  the  adherents  of  the  Greek  church,  both  of  whom  have  a  high 
birth  rate,  it  would  probably  decrease  in  number.  The  women  of 
Catholic  Ireland  rear  a  larger  number  of  children  than  those  of 
England  and  Scotland  whose  population  is  mainly  Protestant. 
Webb  states  that  from  1881-91,  while  the  birth  rate  was  falling 
in  England,  the  Irish  birth  rate  (measured  in  terms  of  the  fertility 
of  marriages)  rose  3  per  cent  and  in  Dublin  9  per  cent. 

The  English  towns  with  the  highest  birth  rate  are  those  with 
the  highest  proportions  of  Catholics  and  Jews.  Mr.  Booth  has 
pointed  out  that  in  Leeds  which  contains  a  large  Catholic  and 
Jewish  population  the  birth  rate  is  relatively  high  (23.2),  while 
in  Bradford,  which  is  located  near  by  and  has  much  the  same 
industries,  the  birth  rate  is  much  lower  (19.3).  The  seven  most 
prolific  boroughs  in  London  are  just  those  having  the  highest 
proportions  of  Catholic  and  Jewish  mhabitants.  And  among 
people  so  similarly  situated  as  the  landed  gentry  of  England 
we  find  that  while  the  number  of  children  per  family  fell  from  7.1 


358  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

in  1831-40  to  3.7  in  1871-90,  the  number  of  children  per  Catholic 
family  in  the  latter  decade  continued  large,  viz.,  6.6. 

In  Canada  there  are  marked  inequalities  in  the  birth  rates  of 
different  regions  according  to  the  prevailing  religion  of  their  in- 
habitants. Quebec  which  is  almost  entirely  Roman  Catholic  has 
a  notoriously  high  birth  rate  of  37.2.  Nova  Scotia  which  has  a 
high  proportion  of  Catholics  has  a  birth  rate  of  25,  while  Ontario 
with  a  larger  Protestant  population  has  a  birth  rate  of  22.6. 
Manitoba  and  British  Columbia  with  birth  rates  of  15.9  and  14.9 
respectively,  are  mainly  Protestant,  but  there  are  several  other 
circumstances  which  tend  to  lower  the  birth  rate  of  these  prov- 
inces so  that  the  influence  of  religion  may  not  be  more  than  a 
minor  factor. 

Those  states  of  our  own  country  in  which  the  Catholic  popula- 
tion is  large  have  a  high  birth  rate.  In  Rhode  Island  according  to 
Hoffmann  "it  is  shown  by  the  census  [of  1905]  that  of  33,727 
married  Protestants  of  all  nationalities,  24,514  or  72.7%  were 
mothers,  and  of  that  number  9,213,  or  27.3%  were  childless.  Of 
34,160  Roman  Catholic  married  women  of  all  nationalities, 
27,438,  or  80.3%  were  mothers  and  6,722,  or  19.7%  were  without 
children."  And  there  is  much  evidence  that  a  high  Catholic 
birth  rate  prevails  throughout  the  nation  in  general. 

As  has  been  pointed  out  previously,  the  birth  rate  of  different 
components  of  our  population  varies  greatly  according  to  nativ- 
ity. Our  recent  immigration  which  comes  largely  from  southern 
Europe  contains  a  high  percentage  of  adherents  to  the  Roman 
church.  Owing  to  this  immigration  and  the  high  fecundity  of 
Catholic  stocks  the  Catholic  church  in  several  states  has  come  to 
number  more  members  than  all  other  denominations  combined. 
The  once  Puritan  state  of  Massachusetts  contained  in  1906, 
1,100,000  Catholics  and  only  450,000  adherents  of  all  Protestant 
sects.  New  York  numbers  2,300,000  Catholics  and  Illinois  over 
1,000,000  while  the  largest  Protestant  denomination  in  each  of 
these  states  contained  300,000  members. 

The  adherents  of  a  religious  body  in  any  country  may  in- 
crease  (i)    through  the  immigration  of  foreign  members,   (2) 


THE  SELECTIVE  FUNCTION  OF  RELIGION        359 

through  the  acquisition  of  new  converts,  and  (3)  through  the 
birth  rate.  In  the  United  States  the  growth  of  the  Catholic 
church  is  mainly  through  the  first  and  third  of  these  methods.  It 
is  evident  that  the  Protestant  constituents  of  our  population  are 
not  increasing  so  rapidly  as  the  Catholic,  if  indeed  their  own  birth 
rate  would  provide  any  increase  at  all.  Should  present  tendencies 
continue,  and  if  the  Catholic  church  resists  the  agencies  which 
tend  to  undermine  the  faith  of  its  adherents,  the  majority  of  our 
population  will  soon  come  under  the  sway  of  this  great  religious 
organization. 

We  shall  not  discuss  the  social  and  political  consequences  which 
would  follow  from  such  an  event.  Undoubtedly  they  would  be 
great,  and  they  would  indirectly  have  a  decided  influence  upon 
the  course  of  our  racial  development.  The  immediate  conse- 
quence to  the  race  would  be  the  replacement  of  the  Nordic 
stocks,  such  as  the  English,  Scotch,  Scandanavians,  Danish  and 
northern  German  elements,  by  peoples  from  southern  and  middle 
Europe.  Many  of  the  latter  stocks  are  of  good  native  quality, 
but  there  are  others  from  the  more  southern  and  southeastern 
parts  of  Europe  whose  relative  inherent  worth  is  at  least  open  to 
suspicion.  At  any  rate,  the  stocks  which  promise  to  gain  ground 
in  the  United  States  are  different  in  many  features  of  natural 
temperament  and  disposition,  if  not  in  intellectual  development, 
from  the  present  average  of  our  population.  Their  relatively 
high  birth  rate,  while  dependent  to  a  considerable  degree  on  other 
circumstances,  such  as  education,  economic  status,  traditions, 
etc.,  is  undoubtedly  influenced  strongly  by  their  religious  beliefs. 
We  must  therefore  reckon  upon  religion  as  one  of  the  potent 
forces  which  are  changing  the  racial  composition  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  this  country. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  point  out  that  among  people  such  as 
the  Japanese  m  whom  the  duty  of  fecundity  is  impressed  with  all 
the  force  which  religious  sanction  can  bring  to  bear,  religion 
becomes  a  powerful  factor  in  racial  expansion.  Among  the 
Japanese,  religion  has  a  peculiar  potency  because  of  its  close 
association  with  patriotic  feeling.    Where  religion  lends  its  sup- 


36o  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

port  to  the  realization  of  national  ambition  for  power  and  pres- 
tige, as  it  has  so  frequently  done  in  the  history  of  the  world,  it 
creates  a  stimulus  to  strife  and  a  menace  to  the  peaceful  relations 
of  mankind. 

One  of  the  ways  in  which  religion  may  affect  the  inherited 
qualities  of  mankind  is  through  the  persecution  of  those  who  do 
not  subscribe  to  prevailing  beliefs.  While  religious  persecution 
has  been  more  or  less  in  vogue  for  long  ages,  it  is  only  occasionally 
that  is  has  been  practiced  on  a  scale  sufficiently  extensive  to  make 
it  an  important  influence  on  racial  inheritance.  Both  Catholic 
and  Protestant  Christianity  show  an  unenviable  record  for  perse- 
cution which  has  scarcely  been  equalled  in  the  known  history  of 
any  pagan  religion.  The  men  of  superior  intellect  and  force  of 
character  who  during  the  inquisition  have  fallen  victims  to  the 
zeal  of  intolerant  devotees  of  the  current  creed  number  many 
thousands.  Llorent  {Hist,  de  Vinquisition,  tom.  iv,  pp.  371-372) 
states  that  the  Spanish  Inquisition  alone  burnt  more  than  3 1 ,000 
persons  and  condemned  290,000  to  other  forms  of  punishment. 
According  to  Lecky  {Hist,  of  Rationalism  in  Europe,  vol.  2, 
pp.  40-41)  "the  numbers  of  those  who  were  put  to  death  in  the 
Netherlands  alone,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  V,  has  been  estimated 
by  a  very  high  authority  at  50,000  and  at  least  half  as  many 
perished  under  his  son."  In  the  17th  century  over  three  hundred 
thousand  Protestants  were  said  to  have  been  put  to  death  in 
various  ways,  and  an  equal  number  emigrated.  The  loss  of  large 
numbers  of  the  Huguenot  stock  as  a  result  of  persecution  has 
generally  been  adjudged  a  great  damage  to  the  French  people, 
although  other  nations  may  have  been  benefited  by  receiving  the 
refugees  which  escaped  imprisonment  or  death.  Without  dwell- 
ing further  on  the  gruesome  history  of  persecutions  during  the 
Christian  era,  or  upon  the  persecutions  which  have  occurred  from 
time  to  time  under  various  non-Christian  religions,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  racial  effects  of  this  pernicious  practice  have  probably 
been  on  the  whole  dysgenic.  Galton,  in  speaking  of  the  persecu- 
tions in  Spain,  says  that  "It  is  impossible  that  any  nation  could 
stand  a  policy  like  this  without  paying  a  heavy  penalty  in  the 


THE  SELECTIVE  FUNCTION  OF  RELIGION        361 

deterioration  of  its  breed."  Weak,  timid  and  sequacious  people 
are  not  apt  to  be  singled  out  for  championing  an  unpopular  cause, 
or  for  defending  what  is  considered  a  dangerous  heresy.  As 
Lapouge  remarks,  "the  persecuted  are  the  superiors  of  their 
persecutors  ";  they  are  apt  to  be  the  bold  spirits  who  are  willing  to 
brave  personal  danger  for  what  they  deem  to  be  the  truth.  And 
any  country  in  which  persecution  has  been  vigorously  carried  on 
for  a  long  period  of  years  cannot  fail  to  lose  a  large  proportion  of 
its  best  inheritance. 

Another  dysgenic  effect  of  religious  selection  is  occasioned 
by  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  which  has  grown  up  especially  in  the 
Catholic  church.  Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  eugenic  worth  of 
the  women  who  take  the  veil,  the  men  who  become  priests  or 
monks  are  above  the  average  level  of  intellect.  De  Candolle  in 
his  Histoire  des  sciences  et  des  savants  has  cited  a  long  list  of 
eminent  men  who  were  sons  of  Protestant  clerg>Tnen  and  who 
would  not  have  been  born  had  the  institution  of  celibacy  pre- 
vailed in  the  Protestant  churches.  Of  the  loi  scientists  who  were 
foreign  members  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Paris,  14,  or  over 
13  per  cent,  were  the  sons  of  pastors.  As  Lapouge  has  pointed 
out,  a  large  proportion  of  eminent  Jews  are  the  sons  of  rabbis. 
For  a  long  time  the  church  afforded  one  of  the  most  promising 
careers  for  men  of  exceptional  intellect  and  character.  To  the 
extent  to  which  such  men  were  committed  to  a  celibate  life,  the 
race  suffered  a  loss  of  a  valuable  inheritance.  Since  the  popula- 
tion of  the  Catholic  world  has  sustained  this  loss  for  many  cen- 
turies the  cumulative  effect  of  such  a  dysgenic  process  could 
scarcely  fail  to  be  considerable. 

An  effect  of  religion  more  widespread  than  the  one  just  dis- 
cussed is  the  tendency  of  the  adherents  of  a  particular  cult  to 
marry  only  within  the  limits  of  their  own  fold.  Thus  arises  what 
Mr.  Gulick  would  designate  a  form  of  "segregate  breeding" 
whose  effect  is  analogous  to  that  of  geographical  isolation.  Any 
isolated  group  tends,  through  continuous  inbreeding,  to  become 
more  and  more  nearly  homozygous  in  successive  generations. 
For  this  reason  and  perhaps  others  also,  groups  of  a  given  species 


362  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

tend,  when  isolated  so  that  they  do  not  interbreed  or  interbreed 
only  at  rare  intervals,  to  diverge  in  character. 

Membership  in  a  religious  organization  acts  as  a  barrier  to 
check  free  intercrossing.  Catholics  usually  marry  Catholics, 
Jews  generally  marry  Jews  for  reasons  of  religion  as  well  as  of 
race,  and  Protestants  not  only  generally  marry  Protestants,  but 
they  commonly  marry  within  their  own  particular  sect.  "In 
Prussia,"  according  to  Mayo-Smith,  "during  the  period  1875-90, 
94.77  per  cent  of  the  Protestant  men,  88.20  per  cent  of  the  Catho- 
lic and  94.79  per  cent  of  the  Jewish,  married  women  of  the  same 
religious  confession." 

Formerly  the  tendency  to  marry  within  the  fold  was  much 
stronger  than  now.  The  Quakers  expelled  members  who  married 
into  other  denominations.  And  in  denominations  in  which 
outside  marriages  were  not  forbidden,  the  general  sentiment 
deterred  most  of  the  members  from  marrying  persons  of  different 
religious  views.  The  customs  of  limiting  marriage  to  members  of 
a  group  tends  eventually  to  produce  a  uniform  type  with  char- 
acteristics somewhat  different  from  those  of  other  inbred  groups. 
A  multiplicity  of  sects  each  discouraging  marriage  outside  its  own 
organization  tends  to  break  up  a  people  into  a  multiplicity  of 
types,  each  of  which  tends  to  become  more  and  more  uniform  in 
character  as  time  goes  on.  Where  sects  are  small  in  numbers  this 
may  well  produce  noticable  results  in  a  few  generations. 

When  we  compare  the  present  influence  of  religion  with  the 
influence  which  it  is  feasible  for  it  to  exert  we  cannot  fail  to 
become  conscious  of  a  painful  discrepancy.  Protestant  Chris- 
tianity has  practically  failed  to  affect  the  practice  of  its  adherents 
in  regard  to  one  of  the  most  fundamental  of  duties.  And  the 
Catholic  church  which  has  attained  a  measure  of  success  in 
checking  the  restriction  of  births,  gives  indiscriminate  encourage- 
ment to  the  fecundity  of  all  classes  whether  their  heredity  is  good 
or  bad.  The  Right  Rev.  Monsignor  W.  F.  Brown  in  setting  forth 
the  attitude  of  the  Church  before  the  National  Birth  Rate  Com- 
mission declared  that  the  State  carmot  lawfully  forbid  the  mar- 
riage of  the  physically  defective  or  even  the  feeble-minded.    If 


THE  SELECTIVE  FUNCTION  OF  RELIGION        363 

the  probable  issue  of  the  mating  of  feeble-minded  persons  be 
feeble-minded  children  the  Church  might  advise  abstention  from 
procreation,  but  there  would  be  no  rightful  authority,  either 
within  the  Church  or  out  of  it,  for  preventing  such  couples  from 
disregarding  this  gentle  advice,  as  they  would  be  practically 
certain  to  do. 

There  is  a  strong  tendency  on  the  part  of  clerical  teachers 
to  base  their  advice  concerning  marriage  and  the  perpetuation  of 
life  upon  scriptual  texts  or  traditions  handed  down  from  the 
Church  Fathers,  without  considering  matters  of  heredity  or  racial 
welfare.  A  standpoint  determined  by  an  appeal  to  authority  is 
apt  to  be  httle  affected  by  the  advancement  of  knowledge:  it 
practically  deprives  knowledge  of  its  most  important  function 
which  is  the  better  guidance  of  conduct.  It  is  especially  unfortu- 
nate that  a  religious  organization  which  really  has  some  influence 
upon  the  birth  rate  of  its  adherents  should  so  generally  fail  to 
exert  its  power  to  promote  the  improvement  of  the  inherited 
qualities  of  mankind.  It  is  gratif>dng  to  find,  however,  that 
some  of  its  more  progressive  leaders  have  here  and  there  lifted  up 
their  voices  against  the  perpetuation  of  inferior  strains  of  human- 
ity, although  they  are  as  yet  like  voices  crying  in  the  wilderness. 

REFERENCES 

Booth,  M.     Religious  Belief  as  Affecting  the  Growth  of  Population.     Hibbert 

Jour.  13,  138-154,  1914- 
Calkins,  G.  N.    Fertility  of  Marriages  According  to  the  Religious  Creeds  of  the 

Contracting  Parties.    Pubs.  Am.  Stat.  Ass.  3,  244-247,  1892-93. 
Forberger,  J.    Geburtenriickgang  und  Konfession.    Berlin,  1914. 
Galton,  F.     Hereditary  Genius,  London,  1869;  Inquiries  into  Human  Faculty, 

1883;  Essays  in  Eugenics,  London,  1909. 
Krose,  H.  A.    Die  Ergebnisse  der  Konfessionszahlung.    Stimmen  aus  Maria  Laach. 

1902,  Heft  4;  Konfessionsstatistik  Deutschlands,  Freiburg,  1904.     See  also 

AUg.  Stat.  Archiv,  8,  267-292,  624-645,  1914. 
Kidd,  B.    Social  Evolution.    Macmillan  Co.,  London  and  N.  Y.,  1894. 
Lecky,  W.  E.  H.    History  of  Rationalism  in  Europe,  2  vols.,  London,  1865. 
Reichardt,  E.  N.    The  Significance  of  Ancient  Religions  in  Relation  to  Human 

Evolution  and  Brain  Development,  London,  191 2. 
Webb,  S.    The  Decline  in  the  Birth-Rate.    Fabian  Tract,  No.  131,  London,  1907. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
RETROSPECT  AND  PROSPECT 

"O,  yet  we  trust  that  somehow  good 

Will  be  the  final  goal  of  ill, 
To  pangs  of  nature,  sins  of  will, 

Defects  of  doubt,  and  taints  of  blood." 

Tennyson,  In  Memoriam. 

"As  an  agency  making  for  progress,  conscious  selection  must  re- 
place the  bUnd  forces  of  natural  selection;  and  men  must  utilize  all  the 
knowledge  acquired  by  studying  the  process  of  evolution  in  the  past 
in  order  to  promote  moral  and  physical  progress  in  the  future.  The 
nation  which  first  takes  this  great  work  thoroughly  in  hand  will  surely 
not  only  win  in  all  matters  of  international  competition,  but  will  be 
given  a  place  of  honour  in  the  history  of  the  world." — Leonard  Dar- 
win, Presidential  Address  before  the  First  International  Eugenics 
Congress. 

In  the  course  of  the  discussions  in  the  previous  chapters  there 
is  one  question  which  must  have  occurred  to  the  reader  on  more 
than  one  occasion :  What  are  the  changes  that  are  actually  taking 
place  in  the  inherited  endowments  of  man?  Can  we  prove  by 
observation,  statistics  or  otherwise  that  the  race  is  either  improve- 
ing  or  deteriorating? 

There  is  conclusive  evidence  that  in  many  countries  the  present 
population  differs  in  certain  physical  features  from  the  population 
of  one  or  more  generations  ago.  One  chief  reason  for  this  is  that 
the  ethnic  composition  of  peoples  is  subject  to  comparatively 
rapid  fluctuations.  In  several  rapidly  growing  countries  such  as 
England,  Germany,  Austria  and  the  United  States,  emigration 
immigration  and  differential  fecundity  have  produced  many 
changes  in  the  last  few  decades.  In  most  cases,  the  characteristics 
in  which  modifications  are  demonstrable  are  physical  traits  such 
as  stature,  cephalic  index,  and  color  of  hair  and  eyes,  which  stand 
in  a  very  doubtful  relation  to  progressive  or  retrogressive  devel- 
opment. 

364 


RETROSPECT  AND  PROSPECT  365 

We  sometimes  find  a  diminishing  stature  alluded  to  as  an 
index  of  physical  degeneracy.  In  several  localities  the  stature 
of  the  population  has  decreased.  It  is  unusually  low,  for  instance, 
in  many  English  towns  (Beddoe),  and  Ripley  has  stated  that 
in  Europe  in  general  it  is  lower  in  the  cities  than  in  the  country. 
In  other  localities,  as  in  parts  of  the  United  States,  the  stature 
of  population  has  increased.  Undoubtedly  heredity  is  a  large 
factor  in  the  changes  of  stature  which  have  occurred  in  many 
places,  but  where  we  find  stature  diminishing  we  are  by  no  means 
justified  in  attributing  it  to  a  hereditary  degeneracy  of  the 
inhabitants. 

Many  physical  characters  of  man  are  affected  considerably  by 
environmental  agencies.  The  latter  are  especially  prone  to 
influence  strength,  longevity,  rate  of  growth,  the  prevalence  of 
various  diseases,  and  to  a  less  extent,  stature  and  weight.  Condi- 
tions of  life,  especially  in  large  industrial  centers,  have  changed  in 
such  a  way  as  greatly  to  affect  the  physique  ofa  large  part  of  the 
inhabitants.  The  relatively  low  stature  of  city  dwellers  is  prob- 
ably due  largely  to  this  cause,  but,  as  Ammon  has  pointed  out, 
there  may  be  in  certain  cases  an  urban  migration  of  taller  stock. 

To  a  certain  extent  environment  may  account  for  the  degener- 
ate condition  so  frequently  observed  in  the  teeth  of  civilized 
races.  Platschick  found  dental  caries  in  92  per  cent  of  12,018 
individuals  examined,  and  Rose  discovered  among  5,600  recruits 
for  the  German  army  only  5  per  cent  whose  teeth  were  entirely 
sound.  The  cooked  foods,  and  especially  the  sweets,  which  are 
consumed  from  childhood  on  doubtless  contribute  to  this  condi- 
tion. Many  observers  have  commented  on  the  excellent  teeth 
possessed  by  the  primitive  races  and  by  men  who  lived  in  previous 
epochs.  Professor  D.  J.  Cunningham,  for  instance,  in  his  testi- 
mony before  the  Committee  on  Physical  Deterioration  stated 
that  "it  is  an  obvious  fact  that  the  teeth  of  the  people  at  the 
present  time  cannot  stand  comparison  in  pomt  of  durability  with 
those  of  the  earlier  inhabitants  of  Britain."  Professor  Dolomore 
also  stated  before  the  same  committee  that  "  in  ancient  British 
skulls  not  only  is  the  arrangement  good,  the  jaws  are  well  devel- 


366  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

oped,  the  teeth  placed  in  a  normal  arch,  but  caries,  if  present,  is 
of  slight  extent,  indeed  mere  specks." 

It  is  not  improbable  that,  as  Kingsley^  has  pointed  out, 
many  dental  irregularities  and  maladjustments  are  the  result  of 
racial  crossing.  With  more  or  less  independent  variability  of 
jaws  and  teeth  it  often  happens  that  the  teeth  are  unduly  crowded 
in  small  jaws  or  are  otherwise  out  of  normal  relations.  It  is  a 
common  opinion  among  those  who  have  written  on  the  subject, 
that  while  food  and  other  environmental  conditions  are  potent 
causes  of  dental  deterioration,  the  withdrawal  of  natural  selection 
has  been  an  important  contributory  cause  also.  This  conclusion 
is  not  improbable,  but  it  is  not  capable  at  present  of  statistical 
proof. 

Along  with  the  deterioration  of  teeth  there  seems  to  be  a 
correlative  tendency  to  the  loss  of  hair.  Baldness  is  much  more 
common  with  us  than  among  primitive  races.  Although  this  is 
commonly  ascribed  to  wearing  hats,  recent  studies  of  the  inher- 
itance of  baldness  have  shown  that  this  common  infirmity  de- 
pends largely  on  ancestry  and  that  the  influence  of  hats  has  been 
greatly  exaggerated.  Baldness  has  never  been  associated  with 
general  degeneracy.  On  the  contrary  it  is  a  not  unusual  ad- 
junct of  distinguished  personality.  The  loss  of  hair  may  be 
bewailed  partly  on  account  of  a  certain  protective  value  which 
it  continues  to  possess,  and  still  more  on  aesthetic  grounds, 
but  further  progress  toward  universal  baldness  would  probably 
not  prove  a  serious  drawback.  We  have  all  but  lost  the  use  of 
some  of  our  ear  muscles  and  entirely  lost  the  use  of  others,  but 
we  are  no  worse  off  in  our  present  mode  of  life.  Our  little  toe 
is  said  to  be  degenerating  and  there  are  probably  several  minor 
structures  in  the  same  situation,  A  further  degeneration  of  the 
vermiform  appendix  would  probably  be  a  positive  advantage. 

It  is  a  fairly  general  opinion  which  has  a  considerable  following 

in  medical  circles  that  the  physique  of  modern  civilized  woman 

has  become  rather  seriously  weakened  in  the  last  few  generations. 

One  index  of  this  is  the  increasing  difficulty  experienced  in  bearing 

*  A  Treatise  on  Oral  Deformities,  1880. 


RETROSPECT  AND  PROSPECT  367 

children.  Dr.  A.  Bluhm  states  that  in  the  Grand  Duchy  of 
Baden  "since  187 1  to  1879  artificial  premature  births  have 
increased  eight-fold,  perforation  three-fold,  and  embryotomy 
has  doubled;  moreover  the  number  of  Caesarian  sections,  which 
are  generally  intended  to  avoid  perforation  and  embryotomy, 
have  increased  nine-fold."  This  is  not  due,  according  to  Dr. 
Bluhm,  to  an  increased  tendency  to  perform  operations.  "Arti- 
ficial premature  birth,  on  the  one  hand  and  perforation  and  embry- 
otomy on  the  other  are  two  species  of  operations,  one  precluding 
the  other.  If  the  number  of  premature  births  increases,  the 
numbers  of  perforation  and  embryotomy  should  fall.  If  both 
rise  this  points  of  necessity  to  an  increase  in  the  inability  to  bear." 

The  ease  with  which  the  women  of  primitive  races  bear  children 
has  often  been  remarked  upon.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the 
matter  has  usually  been  exaggerated.^  The  after  effects  of  this 
facile  child  bearing  have  not  often  been  followed  up  to  determine 
how  it  affects  the  future  health  of  the  mother.  Child-bearing  is 
easier  among  women  who  are  used  to  a  moderate  amount  of 
physical  labor.  Undoubtedly  the  life  of  modern  women,  espe- 
cially those  of  the  more  well-to-do  classes,  is  not  favorable  to  easy 
child  bearing.  The  form  of  the  pelvis  is  unfavorably  influenced 
by  a  sedentary  life.  The  employment  of  large  numbers  of  young 
women  in  sedentary  occupations  such  as  stenography,  office  work, 
etc.,  cannot  fail  to  multiply  the  troubles  of  childbirth.  It  is 
difficult  to  estimate,  however,  the  extent  to  which  environment  is 
responsible  for  the  present  difficulties  of  parturition.  The  form 
of  the  pelvis  is  a  transmissible  characteristic.  The  frequency  of 
narrow  pelvis  has  been  found  by  Rose  to  vary  considerably  in 
different  parts  of  Germany;  those  regions  in  which  this  defect  is 
common  are  found  to  have  the  largest  number  of  children  who 
were  artificially  fed.  This  investigator  also  found  that  breast- 
fed children  were  superior  in  later  life  to  those  artificially  fed,  in 
weight,  character  of  teeth,  intelligence  and  general  physical 
development. 

If  difi&culty  of  bearing  children  depends  upon  a  hereditary 
^  See  Ploss-Bartels,  Das  Weib,  8th  ed.  1905. 


368  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

conformation  of  the  pelvis  which  is  correlated,  in  a  measure, 
with  other  physical  defects,  the  influence  of  obstetrical  skill 
will  probably  result  in  saving  from  elimination  the  progeny  of 
large  numbers  of  imperfectly  developed  women  and  thereby 
storing  up  more  troubles  for  the  future.  As  Dr.  Schallmayer 
has  remarked,  ''The  more  successfully  obstetrics  develops,  the 
more  necessary  will  it  become  for  future  generations." 

Another  much  discussed  physical  defect  of  modern  woman  is 
her  frequent  inability  to  nurse  children.  Dr.  A.  Bluhm  who  has 
made  an  exhaustive  investigation  of  the  subject  estimates  that  in 
Germany  only  about  two-thirds  of  the  women  are  able  to  supply 
their  infants  with  sufficient  milk  for  their  needs.  Those  who  have 
lived  among  primitive  peoples  have  frequently  commented  on  the 
almost  universal  ability  of  mothers  to  feed  their  children  at  the 
breast.  Dr.  Ogata,  according  to  Hegar,  states  that  in  Japan 
women  nurse  their  children  almost  without  exception,  even  in  the 
large  cities.  And  among  Europeans  the  women  of  previous 
generations  nursed  their  children  much  more  frequently  than  the 
women  of  the  present  time. 

While  many  women  are  disinclined  to  nurse  their  children, 
at  least  for  very  long,  in  these  days  of  artificial  substitutes  for 
mother's  milk,  there  is  no  doubt  that  a  large  and  increasing  pro- 
portion are  incapable  of  discharging  the  normal  function  of 
lactation,  however  much  they  may  desire  to  do  so.  It  is  difficult 
to  discover  how  far  the  environment  of  modem  woman  is  respon- 
sible for  this  change.  The  fact  that  the  proportion  of  women 
imable  to  nurse  their  children  is  usually  greater  in  cities  than  in 
rural  districts  points  to  the  potency  of  environmental  influences. 
Hereditary  defects  of  lactation  would  not  be  eliminated  so  rapidly 
as  under  the  regime  of  primitive  Hfe,  and  it  is  not  improbable 
that  the  diminishing  action  of  natural  selection  in  relation  to 
lactation  has  permitted  a  certain  amount  of  atrophy  of  this 
function. 

Inability  to  nurse  children  tends  to  run  in  families,  and,  as 
Bunge  and  others  have  shown,  it  is  often  associated  with  parental 
alcoholism,  tuberculosis  and  a  general  neuropathic  inheritance. 


RETROSPECT  AND   PROSPECT  369 

Bunge^  concludes  as  a  result  of  his  statistical  studies,  "if  the 
father  is  a  drinker,  the  daughter  loses  the  ability  to  nurse  her 
child,  and  this  ability  is  irretrievably  lost  for  all  future  genera- 
tions. The  incapacity  to  produce  milk  is  no  isolated  phenom- 
enon. It  is  coupled  with  other  symptoms  of  degeneration, 
especially  with  lack  of  resistance  to  maladies  of  all  sorts,  tuber- 
culosis, nervous  troubles  and  dental  caries.  The  children  become 
insufficiently  nourished,  and  the  degeneration  increases  from 
generation  to  generation  and  finally  leads,  after  endless  suffering, 
to  the  extinction  of  the  strain." 

Although  other  studies  have  yielded  results  which  are  not 
quite  so  favorable  to  Bunge's  thesis  as  are  the  results  of  his  own 
investigations,  there  is  a  considerable  amount  of  additional  data 
confirming  the  association  of  parental  alcoholism  and  defective 
lactation.  The  interpretation  of  this  relation,  which  has  been 
the  subject  of  no  little  controversy,  is  rendered  more  difficult 
by  the  influence  of  social  factors,  to  say  nothing  of  certain  sources 
of  statistical  error  due  to  the  way  in  which  the  data  are  amassed. 
Bunge's  conclusions  cannot  be  said  to  have  received  rigid  proof, 
but  his  investigations  justify  a  strong  suspicion  that  alcohol  may 
have  been  the  cause  of  diminished  lactation  and  various  other 
defects  associated  with  the  atrophy  of  this  function. 

Discussions  of  the  racial  degeneracy  of  mankind  generally 
emphasize  the  alleged  increase  of  insanity,  feeble-mindedness 
and  other  forms  of  mental  defect.  But  the  question  whether 
mental  defect  is  increasing  or  decreasing  is  one  which  at  present 
cannot  be  decided  with  entire  certainty.  Taking  statistics  at 
their  face  value  we  should  be  compelled  to  conclude  that  in  most 
civilized  countries  mental  defect  is  increasing  quite  rapidly,  but 
our  conclusion  would  rest  upon  an  insecure  foundation  if  we  failed 
to  consider  probable  causes  of  error  in  our  statistical  data. 

Let  us  see  what  statistics  actually  teach  us :  In  1 880,  according 
to  the  U.  S.  Census  Report  for  that  year,  there  were  40,942 
insane  in  hospitals  and  asylums  in  the  United  States,  or  81.6  per 

^  Bunge,  G.  v.,  Die  zunchmende  Unfahigkcit  der  Frauen  Hire  Kinder  zii  stillen, 
6th  ed.j  Munich,  1909. 


370  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

hundred  thousand  of  the  population.  In  1890  the  insane  in 
hospitals  were  74,028,  or  118.2  per  hundred  thousand.  In  1904 
the  insane  in  hospitals  had  increased  to  150,151,  or  183.6  per 
hundred  thousand,  and  in  19 10  they  had  further  increased  to 
187,791,  or  204.2  per  hundred  thousand. 

In  the  census  enumerations  for  1880  and  1890  an  effort  was 
made  to  ascertain  the  number  of  insane  not  in  hospitals.  In 
1880  the  number  was  estimated  at  51,017,  or  101.7  per  hundred 
thousand.  The  census  estimate  of  1880  made  use  of  cases  re- 
ported by  physicians  who  returned  about  17  per  cent  of  the  cases 
in  addition  to  those  discovered  by  the  census  officials.  This 
source  of  information  was  not  made  use  of  in  any  subsequent 
census,  and  this  fact  accounts  in  part  for  the  reduced  number  of 
cases  outside  of  hospitals  appearing  in  the  census  report  for  1 890. 

Before  1880  there  were  no  separate  enumerations  of  the  insane 
in  hospitals  and  outside,  but  general  estimates  were  made  of  the 
total  number.  The  numbers  per  hundred  thousand  of  the  popula- 
tion were  in  1850,  57.3;  in  i860,  76.5;  and  in  1870,  97.1. 

The  proportions  of  mentally  deranged  persons  reported  in 
England  and  Wales  per  hundred  thousand  of  the  population  are 
shown  in  the  following  table: 

Number  of  Insane  per  100,000  in  England  and  Wales 


1859—186 
1869—239 
1879—275 
1889 — 296 
1899—329 


7 1904—347  •  I 

3 1905—350-9 

4 1906—353-1 

5 1907—354.8 

6 1908 — 366.7 


In  New  Zealand  the  proportions  per  hundred  thousand  were 
reported  as  follows: 

1886 — 265 .  o 1901 — 344 . 7 

1891 — 278.2 1906 — 354.1 

1896— 311. 3 

Ireland  shows  an  increase  from  250  per  hundred  thousand  in 
1875  to  499  per  hundred  thousand  in  1903,  while  in  Scotland  the 


RETROSPECT  AND  PROSPECT  371 

insane  increased  from  275  per  hundred  thousand  in  1884  to  353 
per  hundred  thousand  in  1902,  and  to  about  362  per  hundred 
thousand  in  1907,  Prussia  shows  a  similar  increase;  while  the 
population  of  Prussia  increased  by  one- third  between  1875  and 
1905,  the  number  of  insane  in  institutions  increased  fourfold,  and 
in  Bavaria  with  about  the  same  proportionate  increase  of  popula- 
tion the  insane  in  institutions  had  increased  more  than  threefold. 

Other  European  countries  show  much  the  same  increase  in  the 
reported  numbers  of  the  insane.  But  we  cannot  conclude  that 
the  above  statistics  constitute  a  true  index  of  the  actual  increase 
of  insanity.  There  are  many  reasons  for  believing  that  the  in- 
crease of  insanity  is  much  less  than  is  indicated  by  the  figures 
quoted  if  we  grant  (which  some  deny)  that  insanity  has  increased 
at  all  during  recent  years. 

As  facilities  for  the  care  of  the  insane  have  increased  and 
improved  a  larger  proportion  of  the  insane  come  to  be  cared  for 
in  institutions.  The  number  who  remain  scattered  through  the 
general  population  is  inaccurately  reported,  if  it  is  reported 
at  all  in  the  enumerations  of  the  insane.  The  further  back  we 
go,  the  smaller  is  the  percentage  of  insane  segregated  in  institu- 
tions, and  hence  the  less  complete  is  the  enumeration. 

Estimates  of  the  proportion  of  insane  in  institutions  to  these 
outside  have  been  made  in  Prussia  in  1871,  1880,  1895  and  1905. 
They  give  the  following  results: 

Proportions  of  Insane  in  Institutions  in  Prussia 

187 1 — 21  per  cent  of  all  insane 
1880 — 29 

1895—53 
1905—55 

It  is  probable  that  much  the  same  situation  would  be  found 
in  most  European  countries  and  in  the  United  States;  hence  the 
statistics  of  the  rapid  increase  in  the  numbers  of  insajne  in  institu- 
tions need  not  be  so  disquieting  as  they  at  first  appear. 

A  further  source  of  apparent  increase  of  the  insane  is  the 
fact  that,  as  conditions  for  the  care  of  these  unfortunates  im- 


(t         ((       (. 


372  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

prove,  there  is  a  diminution  of  their  death  rate,  and  hence  a 
greater  proportion  of  the  insane  are  found  living  at  any  given 
time.  Varj'ing  standards  as  to  the  degree  of  mental  alienation 
which  may  be  held  to  warrant  commitment  introduce  further 
complications.  It  is  probable  that  more  of  the  milder  forms  of 
insanity  are  now  placed  under  custodial  care  than  formerly  and 
that  more  are  certified  as  insane  in  statistical  enumerations. 
Then  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  changes  in  the  age  com- 
position of  the  population  which  have  taken  place  in  the  last  half 
century,  leading  to  an  increasing  proportion  of  adults  in  which 
insanity  is  more  likely  to  develop  would  of  itself  produce  an 
increase  in  the  number  of  insane  per  100,000  of  the  population 
quite  irrespective  of  any  increased  proclivity  to  insanity  at  any 
particular  period  of  life.  While  it  is  not  improbable  that,  as 
many  alienists  believe,  insanity  has  actually  been  on  the  increase 
in  recent  times,  the  conclusion  cannot  be  established  by  the  data 
on  the  subject  which  are  at  present  available. 

Statistics  on  feeble-mindedness  show  that  there  has  been  a 
steady  increase  in  the  number  of  feeble-minded  in  institutions 
in  proportion  to  the  general  population.  But  one  obvious  reason 
for  this  is  the  fact  that  we  have  more  adequate  provision  than 
formerly  for  the  institutional  care  of  these  unfortunates.  As 
a  rule  only  the  lowest  grades  of  the  feeble-minded,  and  by  no 
means  all  of  these,  are  segregated  in  institutions.  The  proportion 
of  feeble-minded  in  general  who  are  in  institutions  compared  with 
the  number  at  large  in  the  community  is  not  high.  There  are 
indications,  as  is  pointed  out  elsewhere,  that  this  class  is  in- 
creasing on  account  of  its  relatively  high  birth  rate.  If  our  data 
concerning  the  relative  birth  and  death  rates  of  the  feeble-minded 
and  normal  elements  of  our  population  were  to  show  that  the 
latter  were  being  outbred  by  the  former,  the  difference  would  be 
sufficiently  alarming,  even  though  statistical  proof  of  how  fast 
the  feeble-minded  are  increasing,  were  lacking. 

Some  writers  have  attributed  the  alleged  increase  in  crime 
in  recent  years  to  the  increase  in  the  kind  of  inheritance  that 
predisposes  people  to  criminal  conduct.     From  what  we  know 


RETROSPECT  AND   PROSPECT  373 

of  the  relation  of  crime  to  mental  defect,  it  is  reasonable  to  expect 
that  if  the  latter  were  to  increase,  it  would  tend  to  make  crimes 
more  common.  Crime  has  a  sociological  as  well  as  a  biological 
and  psychological  basis,  and  the  variations  that  occur  in  the 
amount  of  crime  at  different  times  and  in  different  countries  are 
correlated  in  large  measure  with  social,  economic,  educational  and 
other  factors  which  fluctuate  greatly  at  different  times  and  places. 
Whether  or  not  most  crimes  are  increasing  or  decreasing  is  by  no 
means  easy  to  ascertain.  This  is  especially  the  case  in  our  own 
country,  owing  to  the  unreliable  nature  of  our  statistics. 

Homicide,  according  to  the  statistical  data  we  possess,  has 
been  for  several  years  on  the  increase  in  the  United  States,  but 
it  has  decreased  in  most  of  the  countries  of  Europe.  Statistics 
for  different  crimes  show  varying  trends,  but  the  general  situation 
in  Europe  has  probably  been  on  the  whole  improving.  That 
there  has  been  an  increasing  hereditary  predisposition  to  crime 
in  any  country  is  a  conclusion  quite  unwarranted  by  any  data 
at  present  available. 

When  we  consider  suicide,  however,  the  evidence  points 
unequivocably  to  the  increase  of  this  crime,  if  we  may  call  suicide 
a  crime,  in  nearly  all  countries  of  the  civilized  world.  In  the 
United  States  Mr.  Hoffman  has  found  that  in  100  of  our  largest 
cities  the  suicide  rate  had  increased  from  11.7  per  100,000  in  1890 
to  20.3  per  100,000  in  191 5.  In  France  the  suicide  rate  has  more 
than  trebled  since  1830,  and  in  Prussia  it  has  more  than  doubled. 
In  England  and  Wales  it  increased  from  77  per  million  in  1890  to 
104  in  1905.  There  is  much  variation  in  the  suicide  rate  in  the 
different  countries  of  Europ,e,  but  its  increase  has  been  so  general 
and  so  marked  in  most  countries  as  to  give  rise  to  much  specula- 
tion as  to  its  probable  cause.  The  growing  frequency  of  suicide  is 
often  regarded  as  connected  with  the  alleged  increase  of  insanity 
and  nervous  disorders,  and  hence  as  symptomatic  of  racial 
deterioration.  It  is  also  explained  as  the  results  of  our  changing 
environment  which  is  commonly  held  to  be  productive  of  more 
nervous  strain  than  in  previous  years.  Race,  religion,  economic 
pressure,  health  and  various  other  circumstances  profoundly 


374  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

affect  the  disposition  to  suicide,  so  that  it  is  not  safe  to  ascribe  the 
increasing  suicide  rate  mainly  to  our  deteriorating  inheritance, 
although  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  latter  factor  is  one  of 
importance.  Many  families  have  been  described  in  which  there 
has  been  a  strong  and  apparently  hereditary  bent  toward  suicide. 
But  from  the  nature  of  the  case  it  is  scarcely  feasible  to  compare 
the  relative  strength  of  nature  and  nurture  in  leading  people  to 
end  their  lives. 

A  number  of  writers  who  have  discussed  the  possible  degener- 
acy of  the  human  species  have  derived  much  comfort  from  the 
decreasing  death  rate  and  the  increasing  average  duration  of  life. 
W.  Kruse,  for  instance,  in  a  long  article  on  this  theme  {Entartung, 
Zeit.  soz.  Wiss.,  6,  359  and  41 1, 1903)  comments  on  the  decreasing 
death  rate  of  Germany  and  upon  the  decreasing  morbidity  of  the 
German  army,  after  which  he  exclaims  "Wo  bleibt  da  die  Degen- 
eration? "  This  rather  naive  performance  really  contributes  very 
little  to  the  solution  of  the  problem.  Mortality  and  morbidity 
have  been  so  profoundly  affected  by  advances  in  hygiene  that 
they  would  be  bound  to  decrease,  even  in  face  of  an  extensive 
deterioration  in  native  vigor. 

The  problem  of  the  alleged  increase  of  degenerative  diseases 
has  elicited  a  good  deal  of  discussion  and  opinion  in  the  subject  is 
still  much  divided.  In  a  paper  on  TJie  Increasing  Mortality  from 
Degenerative  Maladies^  by  E.  E.  Rittenhouse  of  the  Equitable 
Life  Insurance  Society  of  the  United  States  it  is  claimed  that  the 
mortality  from  such  diseases  is  becoming  greater  for  all  ages  of 
life,  although  it  is  relatively  higher  for  the  advanced  age  periods. 
"In  sixteen  cities  the  mortality  rate  from  heart,  apoplexy  and 
kidney  affections  alone  has  increased  in  thirty  years  from  17.94 
to  34.78,  or  94  per  cent;  during  ten  years  (1900-1910)  it  increased 
from  29.4  to  36.78,  or  18  per  cent.  In  New  Jersey  (1880-1910)  it 
increased  from  16.5  to  34.3,  or  108  per  cent."  It  is  shown  that  the 
death  rate  in  advanced  ages  over  45-54  has  increased  in  these 
same  cities  and  also  in  Massachusetts  and  New  Jersey,  and 
probably  in  other  cities  and  states  with  less  adequate  statistics. 
1  Fop.  Sci.  Mon.  82,  pp.  376-380,  1913. 


RETROSPECT  AND  PROSPECT  375 

The  death  rate  of  the  total  population  aged  40  and  over  has  in- 
creased in  Massachusetts  and  New  Jersey  during  30  years  (1880- 
1910)  5.3  or  21,2  per  cent,  in  16  cities  8.1  or  25.3  per  cent,  and  in 
10  states  from  1900-1910,  89  or  3  per  cent.  The  author  concludes 
that  "while  the  average  length  of  life  has  advanced,  the  extreme 
span  of  life  has  not  done  so — in  fact,  the  indications  are  that  is 
has  been  shortened." 

These  are  disquieting  statistics,  but  we  must  be  careful  in 
interpreting  them.  As  Dublin  has  pointed  out,  the  increasing 
mortality  after  middle  age  in  this  country  may  be  largely  ex- 
plained by  the  increasing  proportions  of  foreigners  and  their 
immediate  descendants,  among  whom  the  average  expectation 
of  life  is  considerably  lower  than  among  the  native  population  of 
native  parentage.  As  an  inspection  of  Glover's  life  tables  will 
show,  the  differences  in  the  mortality  rates  of  the  native  and  the 
foreign  bom  become  greater  with  advanced  ages,  although  they 
have  become  reduced  in  extreme  age.  That  the  decreasing 
longevity  in  advanced  age  groups  is  not  a  general  characteristic 
of  modern  civilization  as  indicated  by  a  comparison  of  the  life 
tables  of  several  countries  of  Europe.  Taking  the  expectation  of 
life  at  sixty  years  as  an  index  of  vitality  in  old  age  we  find  in 
France  a  slight  increase  from  1861-65,  when  it  was  13.55  years, 
to  13.58  years  in  1877-81,  and  a  further  increase  in  1898-03  to 
13.81  years.  The  increased  expectation  of  life  at  sixty  years  in 
Germany  is  shown  as  follows: 

Expectation  of  Life  in  Germany  at  60  Years  of  Age 

Dates  iSyi-Si     i88i-go     i8gi-oo    igoi-io 

Expected  years  of  life 12. 11  12.43       12.82        1314 

Denmark  shows  a  steadily  increasing  expectation  of  life  at 
sixty  years  from  1835-44  to  1900  and  Norway  shows  a  gradual 
increase  since  1856  and  Sweden  since  1861.  The  expectation  of 
life  at  sixty  years  in  England  fell  somewhat  from  the  middle  of 
the  19th  century  to  1881-90  after  which  it  has  increased  about 
two  years.  For  the  past  thirty  to  forty  years  people  of  the  old- 
age  groups  have  been  living  slightly  longer  on  the  average  also  in 


376  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

Australia.  In  the  more  advanced  ages  the  expected  duration  of 
life  has  shown  a  smaller  amount  of  increase,  but  in  a  number  of 
countries  even  the  man  of  eighty  may  count  on  living  a  little 
longer  than  he  would  a  few  decades  ago. 

The  increase  in  the  degenerative  diseases  of  later  life  in  the 
United  States  is  probably  due,  to  a  considerable  extent,  to  the 
increase  of  our  foreign  stocks  which  show  a  strong  tendency 
to  segregate  in  cities  where  they  live  under  conditions  which 
frequently  dispose  them  to  an  early  break  down.  It  is  a  debatable 
question,  especially  in  view  of  the  varying  categories  of  the 
diagnosis  of  disease,  whether  degenerative  diseases  are  on  the 
increase  in  the  civilized  world,  and  it  is  further  a  matter  of  un- 
certainty how  far  our  industrial  development  and  increasing 
urban  life  may  tend  to  accelerate  the  development  of  these 
afflictions. 

The  most  discussed  problem  in  relation  to  the  increase  of 
degenerative  diseases  is  that  of  the  alleged  increase  of  cancer. 
The  problem  is  of  particular  importance  since  cancer  ranks  very 
high  among  the  causes  of  death  in  adults,  especially  those  of 
over  45  years  of  age.  Many  medical  writers  have  become  con- 
vinced that  cancer  is  on  the  increase.  Certainly  the  mortality 
statistics  of  most  civilized  countries  attribute  an  ever  increasing 
proportion  of  deaths  to  this  cause.  Taking  the  statistics  of  cancer 
mortality  for  Massachusetts,  for  instance,  we  find  the  following. 

Proportions  of  Deaths  from  Cancer  in  Massachusetts 

Years  Cancer  Death  Rate  per  100,000 

1856-60 23.3 

1866-70 32.8 

1876-80 45 . 1 

1886-90 59 . 2 

1896-90 69 . 2 

1906-10 86 . 9 

1911 92.6 

1912 940 

1913 99-4 


RETROSPECT  AND   PROSPECT  377 

Without  citing  similar  statistics  which  may  be  derived  from 
other  states  and  most  countries  of  the  globe,  it  may  be  asked 
if  these  data  really  suffice  to  prove  that  cancer  is  actually  in- 
creasing. In  interpreting  most  statistics  of  the  increase  of  cancer, 
allowance  must  be  made  for  the  changing  age  distribution  of  the 
population.  Both  the  decline  of  the  birth  rate  and  the  increasing 
duration  of  life  make  the  proportion  of  people  of  middle  age  and 
beyond  relatively  higher.  Hence  a  larger  proportion  of  the 
population  would  now  be  liable  to  be  affected  by  cancer  than  in 
previous  years. 

Undoubtedly  this  circumstance  explains  a  part  of  the  statistical 
increase  of  cancer,  but  it  does  not  suffice  to  explain  all  of  it. 
Willcox  in  fact  attributes  only  about  one-third  of  the  reported 
increase  to  this  cause.  If  we  study  the  death  rate  for  any  partic- 
ular age,  say  55,  estimating  the  proportion  dying  of  cancer  to  all 
the  population  of  that  age  we  frequently  find  that  the  cancer 
death  rate  has  increased  materially  in  the  last  few  years.  This  is 
true  for  most  ages  in  the  United  States  between  the  periods 
1903-07  and  1908-12  according  to  the  United  States  Census. 
Data  from  the  hfe  insurance  companies  of  Austria  over  the 
period  from  1876  to  1900  fail  to  show  any  consistent  trend  of 
cancer  mortality  for  most  age  groups. 

Dr.  F.  L.  Hoffmann  on  the  basis  of  his  extensive  and  valuable 
collection  of  statistics  on  cancer  mortality  from  several  countries 
has  concluded  that  there  is  an  actual  increase  of  cancer  which 
cannot  be  explained  either  by  changes  in  age  distribution  of  the 
population  or  by  improvements  in  the  accuracy  of  diagnosis. 
Professor  Willcox,  however,  has  made  a  critical  study  of  the  prob- 
lem and  has  come  to  a  quite  different  conclusion.  Most  of  the 
statistical  increase  of  cancer  which  cannot  be  explained  by  the  in- 
creasing proportion  of  people  of  middle  or  old  age  may  be  ac- 
counted for,  according  to  Willcox,  by  improvements  in  diagnosis, 
and  the  greater  proportion  of  deaths  which  are  now  certified  by 
competent  physicians.  The  layman  seldom  reports  cancer  as  a 
cause  of  death.  Where  physicians  are  relatively  plentiful  more 
deaths  from  cancer  are  put  on  record.     Fewer  deaths  are  now 


378  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

attributed  to  old  age,  and  the  deaths  ascribed  to  "unknown 
causes"  in  the  American  registration  states  had  decreased  in  191 5 
to  less  than  one-tenth  of  the  number  reported  in  1900.  In  the 
same  area  and  period  the  deaths  from  "tumor"  had  decreased  to 
about  one-fourth  of  their  previous  figure.  It  is  evident  that 
many  deaths  removed  from  these  categories  help  to  swell  the 
cancer  death  rate. 

King  and  Newsholme,  as  a  result  of  their  studies  of  the  cancer 
statistics  of  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  came  to  the  conclusion 
in  1893  that  "the  increase  in  cancer  is  only  apparent  and  not 
real,  and  is  due  to  improvement  in  diagnosis  and  more  care- 
ful certification  of  the  causes  of  death.  This  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  whole  of  the  increase  has  taken  place  in  inaccessible 
cancer  difficult  of  diagnosis,  while  accessible  cancer  easily  diag- 
nosed has  remained  practically  stationary."  Willcox  made  a 
further  study  of  the  Frankfort  statistics  for  the  period  between 
1890  and  1913,  thereby  gaining  access  to  a  much  larger  amount  of 
material  (over  9,000  deaths)  than  that  studied  by  King  and 
Newsholme.  He  found,  in  agreement  with  these  authors,  that 
the  reported  increase  of  cancer  was  due  to  cancers  located  in 
inaccessible  parts,  the  death  rate  from  accessible  cancer  showing 
no  general  increase  since  the  beginning  of  the  original  investiga- 
tion in  i860.  He  points  out  that  in  England  and  the  United 
States  the  death  rate  from  appendicitis,  despite  much  successful 
surgery,  has  increased  almost  as  much  as  the  death  rate  from 
cancer,  owing  probably  to  the  fact  that  appendicitis  was  for- 
merly diagnosed  as  some  other  malady.  The  conclusion  of  Prof. 
Willcox's  careful  analysis  of  the  problem  is  that  "The  cumulative 
evidence  that  improvements  in  diagnosis  and  changes  in  age 
composition  explain  away  more  than  half  and  perhaps  all  of  the 
apparent  increase  in  cancer  mortality  rebuts  the  presumption 
raised  by  the  figures  and  makes  it  probable,  although  far  from 
certain,  that  cancer  mortality  is  not  increasing." 

Our  available  data  on  the  recent  changes  which  have  occurred 
in  the  physical  or  mental  characteristics  of  the  race,  are,  I  believe, 
insufficient  to  afford  any  positive  proof  of  decadence.     Even  if 


RETROSPECT  AND  PROSPECT  379 

rather  extensive  changes  had  taken  place  it  is  doubtful  if  the  fact 
could  be  established  by  the  kind  of  records  which  have  been 
compiled.  We  can  only  judge  of  the  present  trend  of  our  bio- 
logical development  by  a  study  of  the  forces  which  are  now  pro- 
ducing modifications  in  the  inherited  qualities  of  mankind.  In 
our  study  of  these  forces  it  has  been  found  that  some  of  them  are 
working  in  the  direction  of  racial  improvement,  while  others  are 
quite  evidently  having  an  opposed  influence.  'What  the  re- 
sultant effect  will  be  can  be  determined  only  by  some  estimate  of 
their  relative  potency.  How  these  forces  are  working,  we  have 
discussed  in  previous  chapters  and  our  main  conclusions  may  be 
stated  somewhat  categorically  as  follows:  The  one  agency  which 
appears  to  be  most  clearly  working  toward  racial  improvement  is 
natural  selection.  At  any  rate  there  is  a  large  amount  of  evidence 
that  it  is  favoring  the  maintenance  of  physical  vigor  and  keenness 
of  mind.  Sexual  selection  is  in  a  more  doubtful  position.  To  a 
certain  extent  it  retains  what  might  be  considered  its  primitive 
function  of  denying  the  privilege  of  parenthood  to  the  poorer  or 
uglier  individuals  of  the  species,  but  the  more  capable  and  inde- 
pendent spirits,  especially  among  the  women,  are  coming  to  be 
denied  this  privilege  also.  The  influence  of  group  selection 
as  manifested  in  war  and  otherwise,  may  also  retain  some  of  its 
original  racial  benefits,  but,  under  our  present  regime,  its  dys- 
genic  effects  not  improbably  outweigh  whatever  it  may  contrib- 
ute to  racial  improvement.  The  general  influence  of  reproductive 
selection  or  differential  fecundity  is  quite  evidently  pernicious. 
It  tends  to  extinguish  the  posterity  of  the  most  capable  and  to 
fiU  the  world  with  the  subnormal  and  inefficient,  thereby  con- 
stituting the  most  serious  menace  of  all  the  forces  which  are 
influencing  human  heredity.  Religious  selection  while  formerly 
eliminating  through  persecution  many  of  the  better  minds  and 
while  stin  continuing  the  racial  evil  of  a  celibate  clergy  in  the 
Catholic  church,  now  exercises  its  effects  mainly  upon  the  birth 
rate  of  different  stocks.  Its  influence  in  maintaining  the  high 
birth  rate  of  the  Jews  who  are  certainly  endowed  with  an  unusual 
degree  of  intelligence  and  energy  is  rapidly  waning  and  the 


38o  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

differential  fecundity  it  now  helps  to  maintain  is  mainly  in  favor 
of  elements  which,  for  the  most  part,  have  not  demonstrated  a 
superior  inheritance.  The  manifold  racial  effects  of  industrial 
development  are  in  many  respects  bad.  Industry  may  intensify 
the  action  of  natural  selection  in  eliminating  persons  whose 
physique  and  intelligence  are  below  the  general  level,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  its  influence  on  differential  fecundity  may  more  than 
counteract  its  tendency  to  racial  improvement.  Its  effect  in 
encouraging  celibacy  in  increasing  numbers  of  capable  and  self- 
reliant  women  who  qualify  themselves  for  an  economically  inde- 
pendent career  promises  to  be  a  serious  racial  danger.  Education 
itself,  the  basis  of  so  much  of  our  advancement,  has  proven,  up  to 
the  present,  a  dysgenic  agency.  Its  devotees  commonly  fail  to 
reproduce  themselves,  and  since  education  is  becoming  extended 
to  more  and  more  of  those  who  are  capable  of  acquiring  it  the 
racial  damage  thus  caused  is  correspondingly  increased. 

The  effect  of  our  modern  Hf e  upon  the  trend  of  germinal  varia- 
bility, is  as  we  have  pointed  out  before,  a  subject  about  which 
we  know  little.  Alcoholism  while  helping  to  dispose  of  a  number 
of  undesirables,  is  open  to  grave  suspicion  as  a  cause  of  defective 
inheritance.  The  same  suspicion  may  reasonably  be  entertained 
concerning  a  number  of  other  unfavorable  influences  which  now 
affect  a  large  proportion  of  humanity,  in  so  far  as  these  involve 
the  toxic  action  of  drugs,  diseases  or  bad  air. 

When  we  attempt  to  gain  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  forces 
which  are  changing  human  inheritance  it  becomes  apparent  that 
those  forces  which  have  been  called  into  action  as  a  result  of  the 
development  of  our  culture  are  in  large  part  racially  destructive. 
We  cannot  say  that  they  are  entirely  so  because  there  are  counter 
tendencies  which  sometimes  arise.  All  those  agencies  which  bring 
about  the  present  well-marked  correlation  between  sterility  and 
success  in  life  tend  to  rob  the  race  of  its  best  inheritance.  It  is 
chiefly  the  primitive  evolutionary  factors  which  operate  among 
the  lower  animals  that  are  making  for  racial  improvement  in  man. 
Civilization  brings  in  its  train  so  many  factors  that  undermine 
its  own  biological  foundations  that,  from  the  racial  standpoint 


RETROSPECT  AND  PROSPECT  381 

at  least,  we  may  well  ask  with  E.  Carpenter,  "Is  Civilization  a 
disease?  "  If  it  is  a  disease  it  is  one  which  has  apparently  proven 
fatal  to  many  nations  in  the  past.  Without  venturing  to  discuss 
the  various  explanations  of  the  downfall  of  civilizations  it  may  be 
said  that,  so  far  as  insight  can  be  obtained  in  the  racial  changes 
that  have  accompanied  this  process  of  decay,  the  ethnic  stocks 
which  were  responsible  for  the  cultural  advancement  that  oc- 
curred became  gradually  bred  out  and  replaced  by  the  blood  of 
alien  peoples.  Decadence  from  within  was  often  the  prelude  to 
conquest  from  without,  but  whether  the  old  stock  was  replaced  by 
conquering  invaders,  peaceful  immigrants,  or  the  progeny  of 
slaves,  the  result  was  in  many  respects  the  same. 

In  the  present  book  we  have  made  what  is  perhaps  a  very 
inadequate  effort  to  diagnose  some  of  the  racial  maladies  that 
affect  our  own  day  and  generation.  It  is  only  by  recognizing  these 
and  understanding  the  methods  of  their  working  that  effective 
means  can  be  taken  to  keep  them  in  check.  Rather  feeble  at- 
tempts have  been  made  to  curtail  the  propagation  of  mental 
defectives,  through  sterilizing  or  segregating  some  of  the  worst  of 
these  undesirable  elements.  This  practice  carried  on  much  more 
extensively  than  it  has  been  would  undoubtedly  relieve  society 
of  an  immense  burden.  But  the  elimination  of  our  worst  defec- 
tives would  not  meet  the  most  serious  difficulty  which  consists  in 
the  loss  of  those  stocks  which  carry  our  best  inheritance.  It  is 
doubtful  if  the  pecuniary  rewards  which  have  sometimes  been 
advocated  for  increasing  the  birth  rate  of  desirable  parents 
would  prove  very  effective.  There  is  much  to  be  said  in  favor  of 
making  parenthood  voluntary  in  all  classes  so  as  to  restrict  the 
birth  rate  among  the  people  who  occupy  the  rather  broad  belt 
between  the  obviously  defective  and  ordinary  mediocrity.  This 
of  itself  would  lead  to  a  greater  relative  fecundity  among  those  of 
superior  inheritance,  and  so  long  as  restriction  is  not  carried  far 
enough  to  prevent  all  increase  of  the  population,  the  result  would 
doubtless  be  eugenically  and  socially  desirable.  Through  reduc- 
ing the  death  rate  the  natural  increase  of  several  countries  has 
become  more  rapid,  despite  the  diminishing  numbers  of  births. 


382  THE  TREND  OF  THE  RACE 

For  most  civilized  countries,  therefore,  the  necessity  for  further 
restriction  of  the  birth  rate  must  sooner  or  later  become  impera- 
tive. If  this  should  occur  mamly  in  people  of  better  endowments 
who  already  have  a  low  birth  rate  the  deterioration  of  our  racial 
inheritance  will  go  on  at  an  accelerated  pace. 

The  birth  rate  of  different  stocks  would  become  more  nearly 
equalized  by  economic  reforms  which  would  effect  a  more  equi- 
table distribution  of  wealth  and  by  the  greater  diffusion  of  educa- 
tion which  would  be  favored  by  such  reforms.  An  ignorant  and 
poverty-ridden  proletariat  will  multiply  rapidly  through  sheer 
lack  of  restraint.  It  is  a  most  fortunate  circumstance  that  the 
third  estate  continues  to  include  many  people  of  excellent  heredi- 
tary quahties;  in  course  of  time,  however,  they  tend  to  rise  and 
become  sterile,  and  thus  tbe  great  breeding  ground  from  which 
they  emerged  is  impoverished.  It  is  the  very  inadequancy  and 
incompleteness  of  this  sifting  process  which  has  thus  far  tended  to 
keep  racial  deterioration  in  check.  A  social  system  in  which 
human  beings  are  rewarded  by  education  and  position  according 
to  their  inborn  capacity  has  often  been  held  up  as  a  desideratum. 
But  lest  the  racial  effect  of  such  a  regime  should  prove  to  be 
more  destructive  than  our  present  system,  some  means  must  be 
instituted  for  encouraging  race  suicide  among  those  to  whom 
Nature  has  been  grudging  in  her  distribution  of  desirable  endow- 
ments. 

It  is  doubtless  feasible  to  do  much  through  education  toward 
the  accomplishment  of  this  purpose,  but  the  advantages  conferred 
by  elimination,  however  extensively  it  may  be  carried  out,  are  of 
less  value  than  those  resulting  from  an  increase  in  the  highest 
types  of  inheritance.  The  best  blood  of  a  nation  is  its  most 
priceless  possession.  It  cannot  be  increased  by  any  artificial  or 
arbitrary  methods  as  these  would  not  commend  themselves  to 
modern  ethical  standards.  Education  to  whose  influence  many 
dysgenic  effects  may  now  be  justly  charged  is,  after  all,  the  essen- 
tial basis  for  the  realization  of  any  project  of  racial  improvement. 
To  be  effective  it  must  include  the  inculcation  of  a  sense  of 
responsibility  for  the  hereditary  qualities  of  future  generations. 


RETROSPECT  AND  PROSPECT  383 

Education  is  eugenically  of  value  as  making  possible  the  develop- 
ment of  a  "eugenic  conscience"  which  is  now  sadly  lacking  in 
most  people  of  culture.  It  is  a  hopeful  sign  that  here  and  there 
among  people  who  have  inherited  a  generous  measure  of  desirable 
traits  eugenic  considerations  have  led  to  the  rearing  of  larger 
families.  On  the  other  hand,  many  who  are  aware  that  they 
carry  a  hereditary  taint  refrain  from  transmitting  a  possible 
affliction  to  their  posterity.  With  a  higher  standard  of  education 
and  a  diffusion  of  the  sense  of  obligation  to  transmit  socially 
valuable  qualities  conditions  might  conceivably  be  changed  so 
that  a  greater  relative  fecundity  would  come  to  characterize  the 
more  vigorous,  intelligent  and  public-spirited  members  of  the 
community.  Those  who  have  been  most  fortunate  in  the  posses- 
sion of  hereditary  gifts  should  feel  that  upon  them  rests  an  un- 
usual obligation  to  see  that  their  qualities  are  not  allowed  to 
perish  from  the  earth.  The  race  has  its  fate  in  its  own  hands  to 
make  or  to  mar.  Will  it  ever  take  itself  in  hand  and  shape  its 
own  destiny? 

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INDEX 


Abderhalden,  E.,   294 

Ability,  mental,  inheritance  of,  98-117 

Abortion,  prevalence  of,  166,  168-172; 

causes  of,  165,  166 
Adrian,  C,  267 
Agassiz,   L.,   race   mixture   in    Brazil, 

248,  249 
Age  of  parents,  influence  of  on  offspring, 

297,  298,  311-322 
Albinism,  18,  186;  inbreeding  and,  241 
Alcohol,  hereditary  effects  of,  269-296, 

368,  369 
Alcoholism  and  defect,  31-34,  200,  201, 

276-290,  380 
AUendorf,  H.,  353 
Alsberg,  M.,  383 
Ambros,  R.,   inheritance  of  psychical 

characters,  116 
Anunon,  O.,  353;  natural  selection  in 

man,  189,  190,  203;  urban  migration, 

346,  347,  365 
Anglo-Polynesian  hybrids,  255,  256 
Ansell,  C,  effect  of  order  of  birth  on 

offspring,  298,  322;  of  birth  intervals, 

321 
Arner,  G.  B.  L.,  267 
Aschaffenburg,  G.,  94 
Ashby,  H.  T.,  on  infant  mortality,  190, 

200 
Assortative  mating,  229-231,  236 
Auerbach,   E.,   on   effect  of  order  of 

birth  on  short  sight,  307,  322 

Babcock,  E.  B.,  and  Clausen,  R.  E.,  26 

Bachhuber.    See  Cole. 

Baelz,     Dr.,     on    Japanese-Caucasian 

crosses,  252 
Bagehot,  W.,  on  military  selection  in 

primitive  man,  214 
Bailey,  W.  B.,  141;  on  racial  influence 

of  cities,  159 


Bajenoff,  Prof.,  56 

Baldwin,  J.  M.,  social  heredity,  i 

Balfour  family,  102 

Ball,  J.  D.,  and  Thomas  H.,  intelligence 
of  female  offenders,  88 

Ballantyne,  J.  W.,  294 

Ballod,  C,  on  rural  and  urban  death 
rates,  162,  340,  341,  342,  348,  353 

Barr,  M.  W.,  mortality  of  defectives, 
29,  187;  heredity  in  epilepsy,  40,  70, 
280 

Barrington,  A.,  and  Pearson,  K.,  inherit- 
ance of  vision,  22,  26;  extreme  alco- 
holism, 282,  294 

Bateson,  Wm.,  26 

Bauer,  L.,  353 

Baxter,  J.  H.,  on  vitality  of  blond 
and  brunette  recruits,   184 

Beale,  L.,  178 

Beanblossom,  M.  E.,  96 

Beddoe,  J.,  203;  stature  of  city  dwellers, 

365 
Beeton,  M.,  and  Pearson,  K.,  inheri- 
tance of  longevity,  188,  189,  203,  308 
Beeton,  M.,  Yule,  G.  U.,  and  Pearson, 

K.,    inheritance    of   longevity,    188, 

203 
Bell,  A.  G.,  heredity  of  longevity,  203, 

322;  heredity  of  deafness,  245;  size 

of  family  and  death  rate,  304,  305; 

marriage  of  the  deaf,  230 
Bemiss,  S.  M.,  effects  of  consanguinity, 

244,  267 
Berkeley,  H.  I.,  dnmkenness  of  parents 

and  idiocy  of  offspring,  281 
Bernhardi,  Gen.,  356;  on  biology  of  war, 

205 
Bertillon,  J.,   on   the   declining   birth 

rate,  132,  133,  141;  marriage  rates 

and  status,  233 
Besant,  A.,  law  of  populations,  179 


385 


386 


INDEX 


Bezzola,  D.,  on  alcohol  and  heredity, 

289,  294 
Bindewald,    G.,    on   rural   and   urban 

recruits,  343,  344,  353 
Binet  tests,  88,  89,  90,  92 
Birth  rate,  decline  of,  1 18-142;  381-383; 

causes  of  decline,  143-180;  rural  and 

urban,  132-133,  152-163,  342,  345- 

350 
Bjerre,  P.,  72 
Blaschko,  A.,  179,  203;  on  prevalence 

of  venereal  diseases,  167 
Bleicher,  H.,  353 
Bleuler,  E.,  94 
Bliss,  G.,  236 
Bluhm,    A.,    on    obstetrics    and    race 

deterioration,  367,   383;   on   alcohol 

and  ability  to  nurse  children,  294, 

368 
Blumer,  J.  C.,  236 
Boas,   F.,    116,  323;   on   Indian-white 

crosses,  252,  256,  267 
Bock,  sex  selection  among  Dyaks,  225 
Bodart,    G.,    on    mortality    of    army 

ofl&cers,  208;  mortality  in  war,  211 
Bodart,  G.,  and  Kellogg,  V.  L.,  221 
Boeckh,  R.,  birth  rate  of  Berlin,  345, 

353 
Boies,  H.  M.,  94 
Bonhoeffer,  K.,  97,    294;   heredity  of 

prostitutes,     89;     on     tramps     and 

vagrants,  92,  93 
Booth,  M.,  religion  and  birth  rate,  357, 

363 

Bomtraeger,  J.,  on  falling  birth  rate 
of  Germany,  122,  123,  141,  162; 
on  birth  rates  of  Catholics  and  Prot- 
estants, 356 

Boumeville,  D.  M.,  294;  lead  poisoning 
and  progeny,  291,  292 

Bradlaugh,  Ch.,  179 

Branthwaite,  W.,  defectiveness  of  alco- 
holics, 282,  294 

Brentano,  L.,  141 

Bridgman,  O.,  96 

Brigger,  G.,  97 

Bronner,  A.  F.,  96 


Brooks,  R.  C,  353 

Brower,  D.  R.,  and  Bannister,  H.  M., 

death  rate  of  the  insane,  186,  187 
Brown,  W.  F.,  on  birth  control,  262, 

263 
Bryce,  J.,  on  race  crossing,  250 
Bunge,  G.  von,  on  alcohol  and  heredity, 

294,  368,  369 
Burgdorfer,    F.,   on   rural   and   urban 

recruits,  344 
Burrows,  Dr.,  heredity  in  insanity,  45 

Calkins,  G.  N.,  fecundity  of  religious 

sects,  363 
Campanella,  T.,  8 

Cancer,  alleged  increase  of,  376-378 
Cannon,  G.  L.,  and  Rosanoff,  A.  J., 

heredity  of  insanity,  50-53,  71 
Carpenter,  E.,  381 
Carr-Saunders,  A.  M.,  203 
Castle,  C.  S.,  236 
Castle,  W.  E.,  26;  inbreeding  in  Dro- 

sophila,  240;  in  rats,  241 
Cattell,  J.  Mc  K.,  families  of  American 

men  of  science,  138,  139,  141,  187, 

318;  effect  of  parental  age  on  off- 
spring, 310 
Cauderlier,  G.,  141;  on  prosperity  and 

birth  rate,  173 
Ceni,  C,  294 
Chambers,  T.,  221 
Chase,  J.  H.,  physical  development  and 

order  of  birth,  305,  323 
Children,  decreasing  proportion  of  in 

the  U.  S.,  119,  120 
Children's  Bureau,  145,  192 
Chromosomes,  16 
Church,  W.  S.,  70 
Cities,  effect  on  population,  132,  133, 

152-168;  330-350 
Claasen,  W.,  383;  prevalence  of  syphilis, 

167 
Clark,  L.  P.,  and  Stowell,  W.  L.,  death 

rate  of  the  feeble-minded,  187,  203 
Clarke,  W.,  96 
Clausen,  R.  E.,  16 
Clouston,  M.,  heredity  in  insanity,  46 


INDEX 


387 


Cobb,  J.  A.,  on  alleged  inferiority  of 

the  first  born,  306,  323 
Cole,  L.  J.,  and  Bachhuber,  L.  J.,  on 

the   influence   of  lead   on   progeny, 

292,  294 
Cole,  L.  J.,  and  Davis,   C.   L.,    276, 

294 
Collet,  C.  E.,  236 
Collins,  M.,  72 
Combemale,  F.,  294 
Commander,  L.  K.,  quoted,  143 
Conklin,  E.  G.,  11,  26 
Constable,    F.    C,    hereditary   genius 

and  poverty,  100,  116 
Copeland,  E.  B.,  221 
Correns,  C,  15 
Cotton,  H.  A.,  71 
Cowdery,  K.  M.,  96 
Crackanthorpe,  M.  H.,  141 
Crafts,  L.  W.,  70 

Crafts,  L.  W.,  and  Doll,  E.  A.,  96 
Crime  and  heredity,  73-97;  increase  of, 

372,  373 
Crothers,  T.  D.,  294 
Crum,  F.  S.,  decline  of  native  American 

stock,  126,  141,  353 
Cimningham,  D.  J.,  teeth  in  ancient 

British  skulls,  365 

Dallemagne,  J.,  94 

Danielson,  F.  H.,  and  Davenport,  C. 
B.,  inheritance  of  feeble-mindedness, 
11-13,  24;  on  marriage  selection  in 
the  Hill  Folk,  230 

Darwin,  C.  R.,  99,  102,  184,  269;  on 
inbreeding  and  cross  breeding,  239; 
on  military  selection,  206,  207;  on 
natural  selection,  181,  214;  on  sexual 
selection,  222-224,  236 

Darwin  family,  103,  247 

Darwin,  G.  H.,  on  cousin  marriages, 
247,  267 

Davenport,  C.  B.,  26,  60,  70;  on  inher- 
itance of  skin  color,  18;  heredity  of 
ability,  iii;  effects  of  inbreeding, 
240,  24s,  246;  marriage  selection, 
236,  267 


Davenport,  C.  B.,  and  Muncie,  E.  B., 

71 
Davenport,  C.  B.,  and  Weeks,  D.  F., 

inheritance  of  epilepsy,  41-44 
Davis,   Dr.,   on   mentality   of   female 

offenders,  89 
Davis,  N.  S.,  294 
Deaf-mutism,  inheritance  of,  244-246; 

effect  of  consanguinity  on,  244-246; 

tendency  toward  elimination,  186 
Debret,  F.  J.,  203 
De  CandoUe,  A.,  116,  203;  on  eminent 

sons  of  clergymen,  361 
Degeneration,  2-5,  64-69 
D^ghilage,  P.,  179 
D6jerine,  J.,  70 

Delasiauve,  L.  J.  F.,  heredity  in  epi- 
lepsy, 40 
Delinquency  and  defect,  89-92 
Demme,  R.,  on  progeny  of  drunkards, 

280,  281,  294 
Devine,  E.  T.,  97 
Diem,  O.,  71 
Doll,  E.  A.,  96 
Dolomore,  Prof.,  on  teeth  in  ancient 

British  skulls,  365,  366 
Donkin,  H.  B.,  95,  on  feeble-mindedness 

in  criminals,  87 
Doran,  R.  E.,  72 
Doud,  C.  M.,  128,  141 
Down,  Langdon,  29 
Drahms,  A.,  95 
Drosophila,    inherited    defect    in,    69; 

inbreeding  of,  240,241 
Drysdale,  C.  V.,  on  Neo-Malthusian- 

ism,  175-179 

Dublin,  L.  I.,  on  increase  of  degener- 
ative diseases,  375,  383 

Dublin,  L.  I.,  and  Langman,  H.,  on 
influence  of  order  of  birth  on  off- 
spring, 301,  302,  323 

Dudfield,  R.,  179 

Dugdale,  R.,  94;  on  the  Jukes,  81,  82, 
284;  on  alcoholism,  284 

Duke,  E.    See  Duncan. 

Dumas,  on  civilian  death  rate  in  war, 
210 


388 


INDEX 


Dumont,  A.,  179;  birth  rate  and  status, 
173 

Duncan,  B.  S.,  and  Duke,  E.,  on  fer- 
tility of  native  and  foreign  born 
women,  126;  on  infant  mortality 
and  wages  of  fathers,  191,  192 

Duncan,  Mathews,  on  order  of  birth 
and  size  of  offspring,  297 

Dunlop,  J.  C,  on  birth  rate  and  occu- 
pation, 134,  135,  141 

Dunn,  H.  P.,  383 

East,  E.  M.,  and  Hays,  H.  K.,  inbreed- 
ing   in     corn    and     tobacco,    239, 
240 
East,  E.  M.,  and  Jones,  D.,  on  cross 

breeding  and  vigor,  242 
Eckles,  C.  H.,  and  Pahner,  L.  S.,  323 
Elderton,  E.  M.,  26,  141;  on  birth  rate 
and    social    status,    134,    170-172; 
on  size  of  family  and  death  rate, 
305;  on  urban  and  rural  birth  rates, 
161 
Elderton,  E.  M.,  and  Pearson,  K.,  203; 
on  alcohol  and  heredity,  278,  285- 
288,  294 

Ellis,  H.,  9,  72,  95,  179,  319,  320,  323; 
on  ancestry  of  criminals,  81;  intel- 
ligence of  female  offenders,  88; 
genius  and  insanity,  113,  114,  116; 
on  birth  rank  and  eminence,  310; 
on  sexual  selection  in  man,  226,  230, 
236 

Engehnann,  G.  J.,  141 

Environment  and  heredity,  2,  19-26, 
27;  and  crime,  73,  74,  80,  86,  92,  94 

Epilepsy,  inheritance  of,  18,  29,  40-44, 
278-281;  and  crime,  76,  77,  80,  81, 
89,  93;  and  birth  rank,  303 

Esquirol,  J.  E.  D.,  45,  46 

Estabrook,  A.  E.,  70,  95,  on  the  Jukes, 
82-85 

Estabrook,  A.  E.,  and  Davenport, 
C.  B.,  the  Nam  family,  245 

Eugenics,  3,  60 

Eugenics  Record  Office,  10,  28,  61,  64, 

&2 


Ewart,  C.  T.,  on  fertility  of  defectives, 

130, 131, 383 
Ewart,  R.  J.,  effect  of  parental  age  on 

offspring,  315,  316,  323;  on  effects  of 

birth  intervals,  322 

Fahlbeck,  P.  E.,  141,  179 

Falkenburg,  353 

Farr,  W.,  10 

Fay,  E.  A.,  heredity  of  deafness,  245; 

marriage  of  deaf  mutes,  230 
Feeble-mindedness,     18;    heredity    of, 
29-44;  and  crime  and  delinquency, 
80,  81,  84-94;  increase  of,  372;  death 
rate  and,  29,  187,  188;  relation  to 
consanguinity,  243-245 
Feer,  E.,  267 
Fehlinger,  H.,  267 
F6lice,  R.  de,  179 
Ferdy,  H.,  179 

Fere,  C,  on  degeneracy,  65-67,  70 
Fernald,  M.  R.  et  al.,  88 
Fernald,    W.    E.,    on    intelligence    of 

convicts,  87 
Ferrero,  Madame,  on  instinctive  crim- 
inals, 75,  95 
Ferri,  E.,  95 
Finch,  E.,  267 
Finck,  H.  T.,  224,  236 
Fircks,  A.,  von,  150 
Fischer,  A.,  383 
Fischer,  E.,  on  Boer-Hottentot  hybrids, 

252,  25s,  267 
Flexner,  A.,  96,  intelligence  of  pros- 
titutes, 89 
Flood,  E.,  and  CoUins,  M.,  72 
Florian,  E.,  and  Cavaglieri,  G.,  97 
Fol,  H.,  on  assortative  mating,  236 
Forberger,  J.,  179,  363 
Forel,  A.,  95,  294 
Franklin,    B.,    on    American    families 

in  the  i8th  century,  126 
Eraser,  K.,  and  Watson,  on  syphilis  and 

mental  defect,  63,  64 
Furbringer,  P.,  on  sterility,  165 

Gachte,  H.,  on  low  birth  rate  of  French 
intellectuals,  178 


INDEX 


389 


Gallichan,  W.  M.,  sexual  selection  in 
man,  235,  236 

Galton,  F.,  9,  13,  323,  354,  363;  on 
nature  and  nurture,  23-26;  on  death 
rate  of  men  of  science,  187;  hereditary 
genius,  72,  99-103,  108,  114-116, 
318,  320;  insanity  in  twins,  55,  56; 
eminence  and  order  of  birth,  310; 
dysgenic  effect  of  religious  persecu- 
tion, 360,  361;  assortative  mating, 
229 

Galton  laboratory,  8,  10,  22 

Galton,  F.,  and  Schuster,  E.,  on  note- 
worthy families,  101-103,  116,  319 

Gee,  W.,  effect  of  alcohol  on  fish  sperm, 
271,  294 

Geissler,  A.,  179 

George,  H.,  on  hereditary  ability,  98, 

99 
Germ  plasm,  continuity  of,  13,  14 
Gillette,  J.  M.,  on  growth  of  cities,  332, 

354 
Gilliland,  A.  R.,  97 
Gilmore,    C.    F.,    sexual    selection    in 

man,  228 
Gini,  C.,  on  birth  ranks  of  Italian  pro- 
fessors, 309,  310;  effect  of  parental 

age  on  offspring,  311-315,  323 
Goddard,  H.  H.,  70,  95,  96;  heredity 

of  feeble-mindedness,  30-32,  34,  35; 

feeble-mindedness  and  syphilis,  62 
Goethe,  J.  W.,  115;  quoted,  iii;  frail 

infancy  of,  193 
Goldschmidt,  R.,  26 
Goldstein,  J.,  179 
Gonorrhoea,  as  cause  of  sterility,  165, 

167 
Gordon,  A.,  295 
Goring,    C.,    on    hereditary    insanity, 

54,    71;   on   criminal   anthropology, 

77-80,  95 ;  on  birth  rank  of  criminals, 

300,  301 
Gould,    B.    A.,    on    mulatto    recruits, 

252,  253 
Gowers,  W.  R.,  on  hereditary  epilepsy, 

40,41 
Grabe,  E.  von,  96 


Grant,  M.,  384;  on  race  crossing,  249, 

250 
Grassl,  J.,  197,  323,  354 
Greenwood,  M.,  173 
Greenwood,  M.,  and  Yule,  G.  U.,  on 

alleged  inferiority  of  first  bom,  301, 

302,  323 
Grotjahn,  A.,  179,  180,  384 
Gruber,  M.,  384 
Gruhle,  H.  W.,  96 
Guillon,  J.,  354 
Gumplowicz,  L.,  221 
Guttstadt,  A.,  venereal  disease  in  city 

and  country,  166,  167 
Guyer,  M.  F.,  9;  on  syphilitic  insanity, 

48 

Haecke,  H.,  236 

Hagedoorn,  A.  L.,  270 

Haines,  T.  H.,  on  defective  criminals, 
87;  on  Juvenile  delinquents,  90,  91 

Hamburger,  M.,  185,  186 

Hamilton,  A.  Mc  L.,  on  hereditary 
epilepsy,  40 

Hammond,  W.  A.,  on  hereditary  epi- 
lepsy, 40 

Hansen,  G.,  on  deteriorating  effect  of 
cities,  345-347,  354 

Hansen,  S.,  effect  of  order  of  birth  on 
offspring,  323 

Harris,  J.  A.,  236 

Hart,  H.,  mentality  of  criminals,  88 

Hartley,  C.  G.,  236 

Hauck,  A.  A.,  and  Sisson,  E.  O.,  intel- 
ligence of  delinquents,  91 

Haycraft,  J.  B.,  210;  on  mortality  of 
whites  and  blacks  from  malaria,  183 

Hayhurst,  E.  R.,  354 

Headley,  F.  W.,  9;  effects  of  war,  216 

Healy,  Wm.,  96.    See  also  Spaulding 

Hegar,  A.,  decrease  of  lactation,  368, 

384  _ 

Heredity,  principles  of,  10-26;  in  man, 
8,  9,  17-26,  27-72;  versus  environ- 
ment, 19-24 

Heron,  D.,  29,  36,  37;  variability  of 
mental  defect,  36,  37;  inheritance  of 


39° 


INDEX 


mental  defect,  47,  54,  60,  61,  70,  71; 
on  "anticipation,"  60;  on  mating 
with  defectives,  61;  decline  of  birth 
rate  in  London,  132,  141;  defective- 
ness of  alcoholics,  282,  283,  295; 
order  of  birth  and  insanity.  300 

Herpin,  T.,  on  hereditary  epilepsy,  40 

Heymans,  G.,  and  Wiersma,  E.,  on 
psychic  inheritance,  106,  116 

Hibbs,  H.  H.,  et  al.,  323 

Hickman,  H.  B.,  96 

Hill  Folk,  31-34,  36,  70,  94,  130,  230 

Hill,  G.  Chatterton,  9 

Hill,  J.  A.,  on  decrease  of  American 
stock,  128 

Hirsch,  A.,  mortality  of  races  from 
malaria,  182 

Hirsch,  W.,  72 

Hodge,  C.  F.,  alcohol  and  heredity,  271, 

29s 
Hoffmann,  F.  L.,  on  the  declining  birth 

rate,    126,   141;   race  crossing,    252; 

on  mulattoes,  252,  254,  263,  264,  267; 

religion  and  birth  rate,  358;  increase 

of    cancer,    377;    384;    increase    of 

suicide,  373 
Holle,  H.  G.,  on  war,  219-221 
Holmes,  S.  J.,  141,  384 
Homicide,  increase  of,  373 
Hopkins,  M.  A.,  birth  control,  179 
Hoppe,  H.,  29s 

Horsely,  V.,  and  Sturge,  M.  D.,  alco- 
hol and  heredity,  281,  295 
Howard,    G.    E.,    primitive    marriage 

selection,  224,  225 
Howe,   S.    G.,   on   consanguinity   and 

idiocy,  244 
Howerth,  I.  W.,  221 
Hughes,    Amy,    marriage    and    birth 

rates  of  Mt.  Holyoke  graduates,  137 
Hunt,  S.  B.,  brain  weights  of  mulattoes, 

253 
Hunt,  W.,  384 
Huntington's    chorea,    inheritance    of, 

18,  57;  death  rate  from,  186 
Hurst,   C.   C.,  inheritance  of  musical 

ability,  iii 


Hutchinson,  Woods,  384 

Huth,  A.  H.,  marriage  of  near  kin,  244, 

246,  267 
Huxley,  T.  H.,  struggle  for  existence 

in  human  society,  215 

Immigration,  332-335,  351-353 
Immigration     Commission,     on     birth 
rates    of    native    and    foreign    bom 
women  in  the  U.  S.,  127,  128,  156- 

159 
Industrial  development,   racial  effects 

of,  325-354 
Infant  mortality  and  natural  selection, 

187,  190-203,  278;  relative  to  birth 

rate,  148, 163-165,  175,  178 
Insanity,  heredity  of,  18, 44-72;  increase 

of,  369-372 
Iseman,  Dr.  M.  S.,  180;  on  prevalence 

of  abortion,  169,  170 
Ivanow,  I.,  on  the  influence  of  alcohol 

on  sperm  cells,  271 

Jaederholm,  F.  A.,  70.  See  also  Pear- 
son, K. 

Jager,  G.,  13 

James,  C.  A.,  genius  and  insanity,  114 

Jenks,  A.  E.,  on  fertility  of  mixed 
peoples,  256-260,  267 

Johnson,  G.  R.,  97 

Johnson,  R.  H.,  9,  141;  on  marriage 
selection,  236 

Johnson,  S.,  on  birth  rate  and  employ- 
ment, 134 

Jones,  C.  E.,  323 

Jones,  D.    See  also  East. 

Jordan,  D.  S.,  on  dysgenics  of  war,  206- 
209,  221;  on  infant  mortality,  198 

Jordan,  H.  E.,  204;  on  war,  207,  208, 
221;  on  fertility  of  mulattoes,  254, 
267 

Jukes  family,  81-86,  94,  95,  130,  140, 
200,  201,  230,  284,  290 

Kallikak  family,  30-32,  36,   130,   140, 

200,  201,  230,  245,  290 
Kammerer,  P.  G.,  97 


INDEX 


391 


Kaplan,  D.  M.,  syphilis  and  epilepsy, 

63 
Karpas,  M.  J.,  97 
Keeble,  F.,  and  Pellew,  C,  on  crossing 

and  vigor,  242 
Keller,  A.  G.,  180 
Kellicott,  W.  E.,  9 
Kellogg,  J.  H.,  384 
Kellogt,  V.  L.,  on  military  selection, 

209,  212,  213,  221 
Kelly,  T.  L.,  96;  on  delinquent  boys, 

89,90 
Kelsey,  C,  9,  on  negro-white  crosses, 

253 
Kelynak,T.N.,  70 
Kermicott,  G.  F.,  354 
Kiaier,  A.  N.,  141 
Kidd,  B.,  on  the  biological  function  of 

religion,  355,  363 
Kiernan,  J.  C,  on  degeneracy,  67-68 
King,  H.  D.,  on  inbreeding  in  rats,  241 
King,  G.,  and  Newsholme,  A.,  on  the 

alleged  increzse  of  cancer,  378,  384 
Kingsley,  N.  W.,  effect  of  race  crossing 

on  teeth,  366 
Kite,  E.  S.,  30 
Kneeland,  G.  G.,  97 
Knibbs,  G.  H.,  on  alleged  ages  at  mar- 
riage, 14s 
Knowlton,   Fruits  of  Philosophy,    179 
Koeppe,  H.,  204 
Kohlbrugge,  J.  H.  F.,  racial  influence 

of  cities,  354 
Korosi,  J.,  354 
Kraus,  F.,  267 
Krose,  H.  A.,  363 
Kruse,  W.,  on  degeneration,  374 
Kuczynski,  R.,  urban  and  rural  birth 

and  death  rates,  347,  354 

La  Bruyere,  J.  de,  quoted,  73 

Lafora,  G.  R.,  70 

Lagneau,  C.   S.,  birth  rate  of  Paris, 

345 
Laitenen,    T.,    alcohol    and    heredity, 

289,  29s 

Lamarckism,  2,  12-14 


Lamb,  mentality  of  delinquents  and 
criminals,  88 

Lapouge,  G.  V.  de,  forms  of  social 
selection,  3, 354;  on  military  selection, 
211-213;  on  race  mixture,  249;  on 
religious  persecution,  361 

Laquer,  B.,  295 

Laubach,  F.  C,  97 

Laurent,  E.,  267 

Lead  poisoning  and  progeny,  291,  292 

Lecky,  W.  E.  H.,  on  religious  selection, 
360,  363 

Legrain,  D.  M.,  on  the  progeny  of  alco- 
holics, 280,  29s 

Lewis,  Bevan,  on  alcoholism,  285 

Lindsay,  G.  A.,  selective  death  rates 
from  diseases,  183,  204 

Link,  H.  C,  97 

Llorente,  J.  A.,  religious  persecution, 
360 

Lombroso,  C,  72,  92,  on  criminal  an- 
thropology, 73-77;  on  genius  and 
defect,  113 

Lossen,  mortaUty  from  haemophilia,  186 

Lotsy,  J.  P.,  on  variation,  270 

Love,  K.,  on  hereditary  deafness,  246 

Lundborg,  H.,  on  hereditary  deafness, 
72,  24s 

Lydston,  G.  F.,  95 

Macaulay,  T.  B.,  323 

Mac   Dougall,   D.   T.,   production   of 

variations  in  (Enothera,  270 
Mac  Nicholl,  T.  A.,  on  alcoholism,  289, 

290,  295 
Mallet,  B.,  221 

Malthus,  T.  R.,  law  of,  122,  175,  326 
Malzberg,  B.,  88 
March,  L.,  180 

Marie,  A.,  and  Meunier,  R.,  97 
Marriage,   age   and   rate,   of   144-151, 

232-234;    marriage    selection,    222- 

237 
Marro,  A.,  effect  of  parental  age  on 

offspring,  320,  321,  323 
Martin,  H.,  on  alcoholic  heredity  and 

defect,  280 


392 


INDEX 


Marvin,  D.  M.,  236 

Maudsley,  H.,  inheritance  of  insanity, 
45,  71;  genius  and  insanity,  113 

Mayflower  descendants,  birth  rate  of, 
128,  129 

Mayo-Smith,  R.,  on  fecundity  of  re- 
ligious sects,  362 

Mayr,  G.  von,  10,  on  city  migrants,  348; 
age  at  marriage  and  occupation,  150 

McCord,  C.  P.,  97,  mentality  of  female 
delinquents,  88 

McCulloch,  Rev.  O.  C,  on  the  Tribe 
of  Ishmael,  85 

McDonald,  A.,  70,  79 

McDonald,  D.,  pigmentation  and  dis- 
ease, 184,  204 

McDougall,  Wm.,  i 

McKim,  W.  D.,  9 

Meisner,  H.,  384 

Mendel's  law,  15-19,  28,  32-44,  69, 
III,  112,  241-245 

Mercier,  C.  A.,  heredity  in  insanity,  47 

Merz,  P.  A.,  88 

Metcalf,  M.  M.,  on  amalgamation  of 
races,  266 

Meunier,  R.,  97 

Miner,  J.  B.,  96 

Miscegenation,  6,  238,  247-268 

Mitchell,  P.  C,  221 

Mjoen,  J.  A.,  295 

Moebius,  P.  J.,  384 

Moenkhaus,  W.  J.,  inbreeding  in 
Drosophila,  240,  241 

Mombert,  P.,  141;  urban  and  rural 
birth  rates,  162,  163,  164 

Moore,  F.,  on  delinquency  and  mental 
defect,  88 

Moreau  de  Tours,  56;  hereditary  insan- 
ity, 45,  46;  degenerate  inheritance, 
65,  70;  on  genius  and  insanity,  113 

Morel,  B.  A.,  hereditary  epilepsy,  40, 
on  degenerate  inheritance,  54,  64,  70, 

73 
Morgan,  T.  H.,  26;  on  unit  factors,  69 
Morris,  on  race  crosses,  253 
Morrow,  Prince,  sterility  and  syphilis, 

166 


Mosby,  T.  S.,  95 

Mott,  F.  W.,  heredity  in  insanity,  46, 
71;  syphilitic  insanity,  48;  on  so- 
called  law  of  anticipation,  58-60 

Mulattoes,  249,  252-255;  physique 
of,  252-254;  intelligence  of,  261-264, 
fertility  of,  252-255 

Murphy,  H.  D.,  on  standards  of  mar- 
riage selection,   231,   232 

Myres,  J.  L.,  384 

Nam  Family,  31,  94,  130,  140,  230,  244, 

290 
Nasmyth,  G.  W.,   221 
Natural  selection,  2,  3,  7,  29,  181-204, 

379 
Nearing,    N. ,  S.,    birth   and   marriage 

rates  of  female  graduates,  137,  138, 

142 
Nearing,  S.,  birth  rate  and  status,  133, 

142 
Negro,    266;   intelligence  of,    261-264; 

fecundity  of,  152,  154,  156;  mortaUty 

of,  182,   183;  urban  imigration,  335 
Neo-Mathusianism,  171,  174-179 
Nettleship,  E.,  267 
Newman,  G.,  204 
Newsholme,  A.,  10,  142;  on  infant  and 

child  mortality,  197,  204 
Newsholme,  A.,  and  Stevenson,  T.  H. 

C,  142,  144;  and  Yule,  G.  U.,  204 
Nice,  L.  B.,  295 
Niceforo,  A.,  323 
Nicolai,  G.  F.,  221 
Nicolson,  F.  W.,  birth  rates  of  Wesleyan 

graduates,  136 
Nisbet,  J.  F.,  72,  236 
Noggerath,  E.  J.,  sterility  and  venereal 

disease,  165 
Noguchi,  H.,   syphilis   in   mental   de- 
fectives, 63 
Nordau,  M.,  quoted,  335,  336 
Norton,  J.  K.,  88 

Nott,  J.  C,  inferiority  of  mulattoes,  253 
Novicow,   J.,   military   selection,    206, 

221;  race  crossing,  251,  252 
Nussbaum,  M.,  13 


INDEX 


393 


Oettingen,  A.  von,  Moralstatistik,  lo 

Ogle,  W.,  marriage  rates  and  economic 
conditions,  146,  180 

Oldenberg,  K.,  142 

Oliver,  T.,  lead  poisoning  and  progeny, 
291,  292,  295;  dangerous  trades,  329 

Ordahl,  G.,  95,  96;  on  juvenile  delin- 
quents, 90 

Ordahl,  L.  E.,  95 

Orschansky,  J.,  70 

Owen,  R.,  13 

Paddon,  M.  E.,  97 

Paine,  Thos.,  on  heredity  of  ability,  98 

Pangenesis,  11-13 

Parent-Duchatelet,  A.  J.  B.,  intel- 
ligence of  prostitutes,  89 

Parker,  C.  H.,  mental  tests  of  the  unem- 
ployed, 92 

Parmelee,  M.,  95,  97 

Paton,  S.,  on  heredity  of  insanity,  45 

Paul,  C,  on  lead  poisoning  and  prog- 
eny, 291,  29s 

Pauperism  and  mental  defect,  92-94 

Pearl,  R.,  26,  221;  hereditary  effects  of 
alcohol  on  fowl,  274-276 

Pearson,  K.,  biometric  studies,  8,  9, 
26;  on  heredity  and  environment, 
22,  26;  on  mental  defect  and  Mendel- 
ism,  36,  37,  53;  on  "anticipation"  in 
heredity,  59;  on  mating  with  defec- 
tives, 61;  on  infant  mortality,  195, 
196;  on  sexual  selection  in  man,  229, 
236;  on  birth  rate  and  status,  134, 
142;  on  handicapping  the  first  born, 
297-305,  323;  on  natural  selection  in 
man,  181,  185,  188,  189,  204;  on 
hereditary  effects  of  alcohol,  286- 
289,  29s 

Pearson,  K.,  and  Jaederhohn,  G.  A.,  70 

Penta,  P.,  on  parentage  of  criminals,  81 

Peters,  W.,  117 

Pforringer,  alcohol  and  heredity,  271 

Phillips,  J.  C,  birth  rates  of  Harvard 
and  Yale  graduates,  135,  136 

Piff,  T.,  180 

Pintner,  R.,  and  Toops,  H,  A.,  97 


Plate,  L.,  26 

Platschick,  C,  dental  caries  in  recruits, 

365 
Ploetz,  A.,  180,  296,  384;  inheritance 

of  Ionge\aty,  192-195,  204,  323 
Ploss-Bartels,  race  crossing  and  beauty, 

252;  child  bearing  in  savages,  367 
PoIIitz,  P.,  95 
Pollock,  H.  M.,  and  Morgan,  W.  S., 

354 

Popenoe,  P.,  26,  142;  long  life  of  the 
first  bom,  308,  309,  323;  on  inbreed- 
ing, 241 

Popenoe,  P.  and  Johnson,  R.  H.,  9,  232 

Potts,  W.  A.,  alcoholic  inheritance  and 
feeble-mindedness,  281,  296 

Poulton,    E.    B.,    13 

Powys,  A.  O.,  on  longevity  and  fecund- 
ity, 188,  204;  on  infant  mortality, 
197,  204,  221,  313 

Prinzing,  F.,  142,  197,  204,  221,  313; 
ages  at  marriage,  236,  349,  preva- 
lance  of  venereal  infection,  165, 
167 

Prostitution  and  mental  defect,  88,  89 

Punnett,  R.  C,  26 

Quatrefages,  A.  de,  on  race  crossing, 

254,  267 

Radestock,  P.,  72 

Rath,  C,  95 

Rauber,  13 

Ravenstein,  E.  G.,  354 

Redfield,  C.  L.,  effects  of  parental  age 
on  progeny,  316-320,  324 

Rehm,  O.,  71 

Reibmayr,  A.,  117;  beauty  of  race  hy- 
brids, 252 

Reichardt,  E.  N.,  363 

Raid,  G.  A.,  9,  210;  racial  influence  of 
alcohol,  276,  296;  of  disease,  182 

Religion,  racial  effect  of,  3,  355-363. 

379,  3^° 

Rennert,  O.,  lead  poisoning  and  prog- 
eny, 291,  292 

Rentoul,  R.  R.,  9 


394 


INDEX 


Reuter,  E.  B.,  on  the  mulatto,  261-264, 
267 

R^v^sz,  B.,  324 

Ribakoff,  F.  Y.,  296 

Ripley,  W.  Z.,  204,  354;  stature  of 
city  dwellers,  365 

Rittenhouse,  E.  E.,  increase  of  degener- 
ative maladies,  374,  375 

Ritter,  W.  E.,  221 

Rivers,  W.  C,  on  inferiority  of  the  first 
born,  324 

Robertson,  J.,  infant  mortality  and 
income,  192 

Robinson,  W.  J.,  on  prevalence  of 
abortion,  170;  birth  control,  176,  179 

Roemer,  H.,  71 

Rohleder,  H.,  268 

Romanes,  G.  J.,  14 

Roosevelt,  T.,  221;  on  race  suicide,  179 

Rosanoff,  A.  J.,  63;  71.  See  also  Can- 
non. 

Rosanoff,  A.  J.,  and  Orr,  F.  J.,  inheri- 
tance of  insanity,  51-53,  58,  71 

Rose,  C,  teeth  of  recruits,  365;  increase 
of  narrow  pelvis  in  women,  367 

Ross,  E.  A.,  quoted,  124 

Rossey,  C.  S.,  95 

Rott,  Dr.  F.,  221 

Rowntree,  B.  S.,  97;  age  at  marriage 
of  skilled  and  unskilled  workers, 
150,    151, 

Rubin,  M.,  and  Westergaard,  H.,  age 
of  marriage  and  status,  150,  234,  236 

Rudin,  E.,  71 

Ruskln,  J,,  quoted,  325 

Russell,  B.,  quoted,  118 

Rutgers,  J.,  180 

Sadayuki,  K.,  197,  204 

Saleeby,  C.  W.,  9;  infant  mortality  and 
selection,  201,  202;  alcohol  and 
heredity,  286,  296 

Salisbury,  Lord,  family  of,  102;  on 
natural  selection,  189 

Savage,  Sir  Geo.,  on  law  of  "anticipa- 
tion," 59 

Savorgnan,  F.,  221 


Sayer,  Dr.  E  ,  on  fertility  of  defectives, 

130,  131 
Schallmayer,   W.,    10,   384;   on   racial 

effect  of  war,  218,  221;  on  obstetrics 

and  natural  selection,  368 
Schlub,  H.  O.,  56,  57 
Schoolcraft,  H.  R.,  on  marriage  selec- 
tion among  Indians,  225 
Schrenk,    von,    fecundity   of    religious 

sects  in  Riga,  357 
Schultes,  Dr.,  56 

Schultz,  A.  P.,  on  race  mixture,  249,  250 
Schuster,  E.,  54 
Schuster,  E.,  and  Elderton,  E.  M.,  on 

inherited  ability,  106,  107,  109,  117 
Seigert,  F.,  324 
Sergi,  G.,  384 

Sexual  selection  in  man,  222-237,  379 
Shinn,   M.,   marriage  rates  of  female 

graduates,  232,  236 
Shull,  G.  H.,  on  crossing  corn,  239 
Sichard,  on  the  parentage  of  criminals, 

81 
Sichel,  M.,  296 
Sisson,  E.  O.,  on  juvenile  delinquents, 

91.  See  Hauck. 
Smith,  M.  R.,  237 
Snow,  E.  C,  natural  selection  in  man, 

198,  204 
SolHer,  P.,  alcohol  and  heredity,  279, 

296 
Son  tag,  on  war,  220 
Sorley,  W.  R.,  384 
Spaulding,  E.  R.,  97;  and  Healy,  W., 

on  delinquency  and  defect,  91 
Spencer,  H.,  2;  on  decreasing  fertiUty, 

142;  on  selection  in  war,  205 
Spiller,  G.,  268 
Sprague,  R.  J.,  142 
Spratling,  W.  P.,  on  hereditary  epilepsy, 

41,  72 
Stainer,  E.,  70 

Starch,  D.,  hereditary  ability,  108,  116 
Stanley,  H.  M.,  237 
Stature,  18 
Stearns,  A.  W.,  mentality  of  criminals, 

87 


INDEX 


395 


Steinmetz,  S.  R.,  204,  237;  philosophy 
of  war,  213,  216,  218,  221 

Sterilization  of  criminals  and  defec- 
tives, 381 

Stockard,  C.  R.,  hereditary  effects  of 
alcohol,  272-276,  287,  296,  and  Craig, 
272,  296,  and  Papanicolou,  G.  N., 
272,  296 

Stocker,  W.,  inherited  defects  in  alco- 
holics,   283 

Stranhan,  S.  A.  K.,  237,  324 

Strohmayer,  W.,  heredity  in  insanity, 
54,  72 

Sturge,  M.  D.,  296.     See  Horsley,  V. 

Suicide,  increase  of,  373,  374 

Sullivan,  W.  C,  285,  296;  infant 
mortality  and  maternal  alcoholism, 
200;  alcohol  and  hereditary  epilepsy, 
280 

Sumner,  F.  B.,  iii 

Swift,  M.  J.,  237 

Syphilis,  as  a  cause  of  insanity,  48,  62- 
64;  as  a  cause  of  sterility,  165-168, 
307;  as  cause  of  degeneracy,  293, 
307 

Talbot,  E.  S.,  on  degeneracy,  67,  68, 

384 
Tanzi,    E.,    inheritance    of    insanity, 

45 

Tarde,  G.,  95;  on  criminals,  77 

Tarnowsky,  P.,  95;  on  the  parentage  of 
criminal  women,  81 

Taylor,  J.  W.,  180 

Teggart,  F.  J.,  iii 

Tennyson,  A.,  quoted,  364 

Thacker,  A.  G.,  221 

Theilhaber,  F.  A.,  142 

Thom,  D.  A.,  72 

Thomson,  J.  A.,  26,  221 

Thompson,  W.  S.,  142 

Thorndike,  E.  L.,  117;  on  training  and 
mentality,  105 

Thurnwald,  R.,  354 

Thwing,  C.  F.,  237 

Tocher,  J.  F.,  pigmentation  and  in- 
sanity, 184 


Topinard,  P.,  77;  on  race  crossing,  250, 
251;  on  brains  of  mulattoes,  253 

Torelle,  E.,  effect  of  alcohol  on  sperm 
of  star-fish,  271 

Toulouse,  E.,  45 

Tower,  W.  L.,  on  production  of  varia- 
tions, 270 

Travis,  T.,  on  young  malefactors,  91,  92 

Tredgold,  A.  F.,  269;  progeny  of  feeble- 
minded parents,  34,  70;  alcoholism 
and  heredity,  281 

Tribe  of  Ishmael,  31,  85,  86,  94,  130, 
201,  290 

Tschermak,  E.,  15 

Tuberculosis,  182,  183;  hereditary 
diathesis  of,  185 

Tiirck,  H.,  72 

Twins,  identical  and  ordinary,  23-25; 
insanity  in,  55-57 

Unit   characters    and   unit   factors   in 

heredity,  68,  69 
Urquhart,  A.  R.,  data  on  inheritance 

of  insanity,  47 

Vaerting,  M.,  324 

Variation  in  man,  8,  11,  21 

Vecchio,  G.  S.  del,  142 

Velden,  F.  von  den,  324 

Venereal  diseases  and  birth  rate,  165- 

168;  and  war,  211,  212 
Verrijn-Stuart,  C.  A.,  354 
Virgilio,  on  the  parentage  of  criminals, 

81 
Voisin,  A.,  on  inbreeding,  244,  268 
Vries,  H.  de,  12,  13,  15 

Wagner,  K.,  on  war,  220,  221 

Walford,  C,  354 

Wallace,  A.  R.,  sexual  selection  and 

social  reform,  235,  237 
Wallas,  G.,  quoted  on  race  crossing, 

238 
Wallin,  J.  E.  W.,  78 
Walter,  H.  E.,  26 
War,  3,  122-124,  205-221 
Ward,  L.  F.,  100 
Warner,  A.  G.,  97 


396 


INDEX 


Wassermann  reaction,  i68;  in  mental 

defectives,  62-64 
Watson,  H.  F.,  on  syphilis  and  mental 

defect,  62 
Webb,  S.,  on  family  limitation,   173, 

180,  363;  and  Webb,  B.,  97 
Weber,  A.  C,  racial  influence  of  cities, 

153,  154,  159,  160,  354 
Wedgewood,  J.,  103,  246 
Weeks,  D.  F.,  heredity  of  epilepsy,  41- 

44,  72,  303 

Weidensall,  J.,  95 

Weinberg,  W.,  204,  268,  324 

Weismann,  A.,  on  heredity,  13,  14, 
26;  on  inbreeding,  240 

Weller,  C.  V.,  effect  of  lead  on  progeny 
of  guinea  pigs,  292,  296 

Westergaard,  H.,  204;  296,  324,  mar- 
riage rates  and  occupation,  150,  234 

Westermarck,  H.,  on  marriage  selection 
in  primitive  peoples,  224,  237 

Wey,  Dr.,  on  mentality  in  criminals, 

87 
Whetham,  W.  C.  D.,  on  war,  213,  221 
Whetham,  W.  C.  D.,  and  Whetham, 
C.  D.,  10,  142,  355;  on  pauper  pedi- 
grees, 94;  on  the  fertility  of  defec- 
tives, 130 
Whipple,  G.  C,  Vital  statistics,  10 
Wiersma,  E.,  106,  116.   See  Heymans. 
Wigmore,  J.  H.,  95 


Will  cox,  W.  F.,  on  the  decreasing 
proportion  of  children,  120,  142;  on 
the  alleged  increase  of  cancer,  377, 

378,  384 
WilUams,  J.  H.,  delinquency  and  defect, 

90 
Wilmarth,  Dr.  A.  W.,  on  fertility  in 

defectives,  130 
Wilson,  H.  J.,  384 
Wilson,  J.  G.,  268 
Wolf,  J.,  180 
Woltmann,  L.,  10 
Woodruff,  C.  E.,  142;  on  the  extinction 

of  mulattoes,  253 
Woods,  F.  A.,  heredity  in  royalty,  108, 

109,  117;  in  the  Hall  of  Fame,  109, 

117 
Woods,  M.,  296 
Wright,  J.  F  ,  237 
Wulffen,  E.,  96 

Yoder,  H.  H.,  birth  rank  and  genius, 
310, 320 

Yoimg,  A.  A.,  on  the  declining  birth 
rate  in  New  Hampshire,  125,  126,  142 

Yule,  G.  U.,  142;  on  the  effect  of  order 
of  birth  on  offspring.  See  also  Green- 
wood. 

Zampa,  R.,  96 

Zero  family,  31,  84-86,  230,  290 


iiiiiiiiiiii 


